Andy Burnham halts thousands of early prison releases
New Prime Minister Andy Burnham has halted plans for the early release of thousands of prisoners – sparking ‘chaos’ in the justice system.
The plans, drawn up under Sir Keir Starmer’s premiership and two years in the making, would have seen an estimated 6,000 prisoners released early in monthly tranches, starting in September. The releases were approved by Parliament as part of the Sentencing Act 2026, in a bid to stop prisons from overflowing.
Prison staff had been busy calculating new release dates, with individual prisoners due to be told their dates in August ahead of the start of the releases on 2 September.
But Mr Burnham stated on 23 July, two days after he took over from Sir Keir in Number 10: “I am working closely with the new Justice Secretary and have instructed my team to put a pause on the changes that were due to start in September.
“No prisoners will be let out under this policy until we have conducted an urgent review and done everything we can to minimise risk to the public. Where changes are needed, we will not hesitate to make them.”
Tania Bassett, national officer for the National Association of Probation Officers, told The Guardian that Mr Burnham’s announcement had “created a sense of chaos in HM Prison and Probation Service”.
She said: “This is really worrying for our members who are currently working hard on pre-release work for those due to come out in September. It was already an incredibly short timeframe to meet the implementation date. This review could potentially reduce the timeframes even further, putting more pressure on our already overworked members. We urge the prime minister for clarity as soon as possible.”
One unnamed prison officer told the BBC: “We’re super overcrowded – this isn’t great news. If we don’t let people out in September we could be at a critical point come November where we’re at full capacity. It’s a bonkers decision.”
The Sentencing Act 2026 enacted reforms recommended by former Conservative justice secretary David Gauke in his Independent Sentencing Review, commissioned by Sir Kier’s government in 2024. Motivated by a need to tackle the capacity crisis in jails, they would have changed the system so that most prisoners in England and Wales would serve 33 per cent of their sentence in custody, instead of 40 per cent at present.
The early releases would not have benefited some 18,000 people serving life, IPP (Imprisonment for Public Protection) or EDS (Extended Determinate Sentences). But unlike previous waves of emergency early releases, those who stood to benefit included people convicted of sexual offences and serious violent offences including manslaughter.
Mr Burnham’s decision to pause the releases, pending review, came amid criticism of the early releases from crime victims, opposition MPs and the Press. One focus was on two men serving sentences for manslaughter following the death of Pc Andrew Harper in Berkshire in 2019, who could have allowed out of prison early under the policy. Other campaigners had called for people convicted of sexual offences to be excluded, with the Conservatives estimating that 2,500 sex offenders were in line for early release.
It is apparent that government has a dissconnect with prison services. Unaware of the daily struggles of both staff and prisoners, and keeping the balance. Overcrowding will not be solved by more places. Longer sentences dont solve the issues, prisoners without proper care will be the same person on release no matter how long the sentence. We need better education, services and staffing to solve prison issues. Early release just gives breathing room. Changes need to be made inside and outside. Also government soesnt realise how much struggle it is to plan for thses releases, poeple could lose jobs and then staffing be insufficient when they decide the time is right or that people have moved onto abother crisis. I fear real chnage wont happen until something bug happens , much like what happened before.
The releases are said to have been approved by Parliament (as part of the Sentencing Act), so surely the whole Parliament can’t have been wrong?
This is surely an over-reaction to a single ghastly case. More reasoned counsels may prevail given time, I humbly hope.
This has nothing to do with “risk to the public” and everything to do with, as ever, pleasing the hard right corporate billionaire-owned media that, to a large extent, control government policies, particularly those around criminal justice. It looks good in the headlines to see supposedly dangerous men convicted of sexual offences against children being refused release (where they would be very closely monitored by police and probation authorities). Meanwhile, men and women working in weapons factories, turning out tools to bury children under the rubble of their homes continue in their oddly respectable, well-paid, unionised careers.