Justice Secretary to set out further plans to tackle prison overcrowding

The Justice Secretary will set out plans to address prison overcrowding amid suggestions criminals could be released after serving just a third of their sentences.

Shabana Mahmood will address the scale of the crisis in prisons on Wednesday, ahead of the sentencing review, as the latest weekly prison population in England and Wales stands at 88,087.

This is 434 below the last peak in the prison population of 88,521 inmates on September 6, recorded just before the Government began freeing thousands of prisoners early as part of efforts to curb jail overcrowding.

Ministers ordered early releases by temporarily reducing the proportion of sentences which some prisoners must serve behind bars from 50% to 40%.

Reports on Wednesday have suggested the upcoming sentencing review, led by former justice secretary David Gauke, will propose for some prisoners to be released after serving a third of their sentence if they carry out rehabilitation activities.

According to The Times, Ms Mahmood is expected to accept plans to introduce a minimum and maximum sentence for certain criminals.

It would mean prisoners would be released at the minimum point of their jail term if they show good behaviour and participate in education, rehabilitation and anger management courses and work, the paper reported.

But those who demonstrate bad behaviour such as violence, having contraband or refusing to work while in prison would serve the maximum sentence.

Elsewhere, the Daily Telegraph reported burglars and shoplifters may be among the offenders eligible for the fresh early release scheme.

Mr Gauke’s independent review has been looking at tougher punishments outside of prison as part of Government efforts to tackle jail overcrowding, and is expected to be published in the coming weeks.

The plan for reform comes as emergency measures to use police cells to temporarily hold prisoners were re-enacted in March as the number of prisoners in England and Wales reached a six-month high.

Ms Mahmood had said jails were operating at more than 99% occupancy.

Downing Street said it would not be drawn on the outcomes of the sentencing review before it is published.

But the Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: “This Government inherited a prison system in crisis, putting pressure on the entire justice system and ultimately putting the public at risk.

“And the Prime Minister has repeatedly been clear that that is completely unacceptable and that is why, as soon as the Government came into office, we took immediate action to relieve this pressure and pledged to build 14,000 new prison places.

“And our priority now is to put in place a long term strategy to ensure that no future government is ever left in this position again.”

He said the sentencing review would ensure “we always have prison places available for dangerous offenders and prisons aren’t so full that they are simply a breeding ground for more crime”.

Meanwhile the Prison Service is conducting a “snap review” into the use of  protective body armour for prison officers, and the use of tasers is being trialled in jails, after an attack on prison officers by Manchester Arena bomb plotter Hashem Abedi last month.

The number of assaults on staff in adult prisons in England and Wales per year has reached its highest level in a decade, according to data from the Ministry of Justice.

On Wednesday, the Prison Officers Association said two officers were injured in separate incidents at HMP Woodhill, where one of the officers was allegedly attacked by an inmate detained under the Terrorism Act 2008.

The union also reported a prison officer had a TV thrown at him and a female officer sustained a broken arm after a prisoner faked an epileptic fit at Gartree Prison.

POA general secretary Steve Gillan said: “Escalating levels of violence are out of control in the prison service in England and Wales.

“We need action to protect prison officers before there is a fatality.”