Police chief issues warning over early release of prisoners

Speaking to LBC on Monday, August 31, Jason Hogg, Chief Constable of Thames Valley Police, warned that monitoring offenders released under the Government’s early release scheme would be “difficult” for forces across the county without additional funding.

The scheme aims to ease overcrowding in prisons by releasing certain inmates ahead of schedule.

Mr Hogg said: “The police haven’t received any additional funding for this additional work, so I’m going to be having to move resources away from one area of business to another to seek out, arrest, and bring before the court individuals who don’t follow the restrictions that they will be set.

“For example, their tagging restrictions. We don’t quite know what the demand will be on that, but I think it’ll be reasonably high, so it’s definitely more work for us.”

The early release scheme, introduced to address rising prison populations, initially included up to 6,000 inmates.

Following public outcry, the Government reduced that number to 5,000 and exempted rapists, “serious” child sex offenders, and other high-risk individuals.

PC Andrew Harper (Image: PA)

The death of Thames Valley Police officer Andrew Harper brought renewed attention to the policy.

His killers, Albert Bowers and Jessie Cole, were initially eligible for early release from next year, but fresh changes announced on Sunday (August 30) mean anyone convicted of unlawful killing, including all forms of manslaughter, members of grooming gangs and death by dangerous driving, will be excluded.

Jessie Cole and Albert Bowers (Image: PA)

Mr Hogg said the announcement came as a “relief”. He said: “It will be welcomed not just by me but by police officers in Thames Valley as well, because there’s been such a strength of feeling about this issue.”

To create more space in the prison system, Mr Burnham said the Government would focus on deporting foreign prisoners and releasing inmates who are serving imprisonment for public protection (IPP) sentences.

These sentences, which were abolished in 2012, were given to offenders deemed to pose a significant risk to the public.

However, the Prime Minister cautioned that changes to IPP sentences would require a “very careful” approach, as some individuals may still present a danger.

He also confirmed that reforms to IPP releases would take years to implement and would not be part of the immediate measures to relieve overcrowding.

Ministry of Justice data shows that as of June 30, 856 IPP prisoners remained in custody, with another 1,415 recalled to prison after release.

On Monday, justice minister Alex Davies-Jones insisted that “release does not mean freedom” for those let out under the early release scheme.

She also told BBC Breakfast: “When these offenders come out of prison, the presumption will be that they will all be placed on a GPS monitoring tag.

“We’re introducing for the first time ever a world first restriction zone to limit the freedom and location that the offender can go, and we are also banning them from things like pubs, concert public spaces, taking away their driver’s licence, mandatory work placements.

All of this being carried out to ensure that the victims are put front and centre, that they do have consideration, because previously they weren’t considered.”