Labour will hand 40,000 criminals a get out of jail free card

Telegraph

23-05-2025

Up to 43,000 criminals are set to avoid prison each year under Government plans to combat jail overcrowding, an analysis of official figures by The Telegraph reveals.
The criminals, including burglars, shoplifters and knife offenders, will instead face community sentences under the plans to scrap most jail terms of under 12 months.
The law change, recommended by an independent review headed by David Gauke, the former Tory justice secretary, will order courts to only jail offenders for less than a year in 'exceptional circumstances', including domestic abuse, stalking and breaching orders linked to violence against women and girls.
The analysis also reveals that up to 1,500 killers, rapists and other serious sexual and violent offenders will be eligible for early release each year under the shake-up, which is designed to free up nearly 10,000 prison spaces.
The criminals, whose offences include manslaughter, attempted murder, rape, wounding with intent to cause GBH and sexual assault, will be eligible for early release half way through their sentences of four or more years, rather than two thirds, if they behave well and engage with rehabilitation schemes.
Up to a further 28,600 offenders on standard determinate sentences will be eligible for release as little as a third of the way through their sentences, depending on behaviour.
The offences include violence against the person, sex offences, robbery, theft, drug possession, fraud and possession of weapons, for which the criminals would currently only be allowed out after serving 40 per cent of their sentence. If they fail to behave, they would face up to 50 per cent of their sentence in jail.
Robert Jenrick, the shadow justice secretary, said: 'Sir Keir Starmer's decision is a gift to hardened criminals who will now be free to cause carnage on our streets.
'This is certain to cause a crime wave and the complete breakdown of law and order. The only people benefiting from this Labour Government are criminals and illegal migrants.
'Instead of offering huge sentence discounts to killers and rapists, Starmer should free up space in our prisons by deporting the 10,800 foreign offenders clogging up our jails. But he won't, as he's wedded to broken human rights laws and previously campaigned to keep foreign criminals in the UK.'
He made the comments as police chiefs have demanded ministers exempt 'high-risk' violent and sexual offenders from their early prison release scheme to protect the public from 'out of control' criminals.
They have also warned there will be a surge in reoffending by freed prisoners unless Rachel Reeves, the Chancellor, provides the extra cash for probation officers to supervise the thousands more criminals set to be released early.
The National Police Chiefs' Council (NPCC) has written to Shabana Mahmood, the Justice Secretary, warning that letting criminals 'out of prison' earlier must not mean the offenders are 'out of control'.
The analysis, based on the number of offenders jailed last year, showed that up to nearly 11,000 shoplifters could avoid jail, as well as more than 3,000 convicted of assaulting emergency workers and a further 3,000 imprisoned for common assault and battery.
It could also include as many as 2,300 burglars of non-domestic dwellings and nearly 400 house burglars. The figures also suggest 2,300 convicted of knife crime and more than 1,000 sent down for actual bodily harm assaults could escape jail.
Chief Constable Sacha Hatchett, who leads on criminal justice for the NPCC, said there must be adequate funds in the forthcoming spending review to invest in probation officers and technology, to ensure freed criminals were effectively supervised in the community to reduce reoffending.
'It is crucial for public safety that high-risk offenders, including those convicted of violent or sexual offences, and those who pose a threat to national security, are exempt from early prison release,' she said.
'Robust prison sentences for these crimes must remain in place as a strong deterrent and means of keeping the public safe. It is also crucial that victims of domestic abuse are protected, and that perpetrators understand that there will be harsh consequences for breaching orders.'
Ms Mahmood told MPs she had secured an extra £700 million for the probation service in the spending review, as well as deploying 'tens of thousands' more electronic tags to place high-risk offenders under effective 'house arrest' with curfews at night and during the day alongside tighter exclusions, which they must not leave.