UK to release thousands of inmates, with overcrowded prisons at ‘breaking point’
- Justice minister Shabana Mahmood warns that if cell space runs out, there will be ‘van-loads of dangerous people circling the country’
Thousands of prisoners are to be released early from September to prevent the “collapse” of the prisons system, the UK’s new justice minister announced on Friday.
Shabana Mahmood said failure to do so risked the “total breakdown of law and order”, with just 700 places left for men, and jails operating at 99 per cent capacity since 2023.
England and Wales have the highest per capita prison population in western Europe.
The chief inspector of prisons, Charlie Taylor, said this week that urgent action was required, as prisons were at “breaking point”.
The release initiative would not apply to violent offenders serving more than four years, sex offenders and those in prison for domestic abuse offences as well as those on life sentences.
Mahmood, appointed last week after Labour’s general election win, warned in dramatic language that if prisons ran out of cell space, there could be “van-loads of dangerous people circling the country with nowhere to go”.