Early release puts public safety at risk without funding, say police and MI5 – report
GuardianMAY 28
UK Police Chiefs Warn Early Prison Release Risks Public Safety
Above: U.K. Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood during the official opening of HMP Millsike, the new Category C jail in Yorkshire, which will deliver 1,500 prison places. Image copyright: Danny Lawson/Contributor/PA Images via Getty Images
The Spin
Conservative Party narrative
While this plan may appeal to liberal theorists, it's time the Labour government gets serious and ends its plan to release tens of thousands of burglars, shoplifters, and knife attackers. The early release of 1,500 killers and rapists will bring a disastrous crime surge, and there's no sane reason not to keep these criminals, jailed for good reason, behind bars for their full terms.
Labour Party narrative
Critics of this plan are coming from a false premise: assuming that these prisoners were handed fair sentences in the first place. In reality, years of politically motivated policymaking has driven increases in oversentencing, pushing the U.K.'s prison system to the brink. The current overcrowding crisis was created by the Tories' faulty policy, and Labour is simply correcting course.