Public safety 'at risk' over early release prisoner plan as police chiefs warn Starmer's crime pledges in peril
27 May 2025, 22:39 | Updated: 27 May 2025, 22:46
The government's plan to release prisoners poses a huge risk to public safety and threatens to undermine confidence in policing and criminal justice, police chiefs have warned.
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Leading voices in the UK policing and security have raised the alarm over Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer's plans to free thousands of prisoners early.
Inmates who have served as little as a third of their sentences could be released ahead of schedule if they behave well and take part in rehabilitation programmes, which could go up to 50% of their sentence if they do not behave well.
The move - aimed at easing the vast overcrowding in Britain's jails - marks the biggest revival of the prison system in 30 years.
But the Ministry of Justice has now been sent a stark warning - with senior figures raising concerns that things could get "out of control".
“We have to ensure that out of court does not mean out of justice, and that out of prison does not mean out of control,” a letter sent to the MoJ reads.
The letter, published by The Times, adds that the government needs to include an extra extra £300 million “control the additional offending population at large” in its next spending review on June 11, with fears the "necessary resources” may not be in place to cope with the impacts.
It says: “On the basis of what we understand at the moment, we are concerned that the proposals could be of net detriment to public safety and certainty to public confidence in policing and the criminal justice system.
“We are not arguing for the status quo. But we have to ensure that out of court does not mean out of justice, and out of prison does not mean out of control.”
It has been signed by heads of the Metropolitan Police, MI5 and the National Crime Agency (NCA). They include Met Police chief Sir Mark Rowley, MI5 deputy director-general of Graeme Biggar, and NCA director-general.
Gavin Stephens, the chairman of the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) and Vicki Evans, the national lead on counter-terror policing, have also signed the letter, as has Sacha Hatchett, the national lead on criminal justice at the NPCC.
They add that “hyper-prolific” offenders should still receive jail despite efforts to abandon and cut down on short-term sentences as part of Former justice secretary David Gauke's sentencing review.
“Even where that does not change their long-term behaviour, it provides the community with a sense of justice and temporary respite, stopping their offending during their prison term — a point often ignored in the current narrative on recidivism rates and short sentences,” the letter added.
Concerns were also raised over electronic tagging, high-risk offenders being released early, as well as terrorists and others jailed under national security legislation.
But it was not only public safety they warned could be at risk.
The police and security bosses have argued Starmer's crime pledges are at risk of never being met.
They include halving knife crime and rates of violence against women and girls, and recruiting an extra 13,000 additional police officers into neighbourhood policing.
Labour's mission is to halve knife crime incidents within a decade, with the summit a means of tracking progress according to the party, with ONS statistics showing offending has gone up 81 percent since 2015.
"It is our duty as political leaders of all stripes to work together to end knife crime and keep our young people safe," said Starmer as he announced his crime pledge.
“It is our duty as political leaders of all stripes to work together to end knife crime and keep our young people safe.
“Cutting knife crime will be a moral mission for the next Labour government".
But police chiefs have argued a “substantial investment” is needed to manage a growing “complexity and demand” of increasing threats.
“The safer we make our villages, towns and cities the more confidence business will have to invest in the UK,” they wrote.
it comes after a £1.1bn boost in police funding for 2025-26 in England and Wales, which Mr Rowley has said was not enough to stop cuts to the force.
A Ministry of Justice spokesman said: "This government inherited prisons in crisis, close to collapse. We will never put the public at risk by running out of prison places again.
“We are building new prisons, on track for 14,000 places by 2031 — the largest expansion since the Victorians. Our sentencing reforms will force prisoners to earn their way to release or face longer in jail for bad behaviour, while ensuring the most dangerous offenders can be kept off our streets.
“We will also increase probation funding by up to £700 million by 2028-29 to tag and monitor tens of thousands more offenders in the community.”
