Prisoner release pause 'the right approach' - Rother Valley MP
ROTHER Valley MP Jake Richards – who is also a Justice Minister – has called the government's announcement that no prisoners will be let out early until a review of the scheme is completed “the right approach.”
As preparations were underway ahead of the planned early release launch in September – part of plans under the Government’s Sentencing Act 2026 – some victims of crime received letters informing them that some offenders could be freed earlier than expected.
Rotherham grooming gang victims Sammy Woodhouse and Sarah Wilson were among those contacted.
Mr Richards said: “What we're going to be doing is over the next few days and weeks, we'll be setting out how we are going to be implementing the Sentencing Act measures.
“But we'll be keeping under review constantly, because any vigilant government would, of course, keep under review the numbers of people who are going into prison, the number of people who are going out of prison, who those people are, how we're keeping the public safe, making sure that we're building more prison places - which is what this Labour government is doing, building prisons at a scale that we haven't seen since the Victorian era - and maintaining a functioning law and order system.
“That's the priority for this Prime Minister, it's the priority for this new Justice Secretary, and I'm delighted to be helping them with it.”
He added: “It's right that we look at this.
“There is always a balancing act between prison capacity, making sure we've got enough prison places to keep the system operating, the criminal justice system functioning, and also ensuring that justice is served and most importantly that the public is kept safe.
“That is a balancing act.
“Now that balancing act is made much harder by the fact that the last Conservative government shut 23 prisons during their time in office, that when we came into office there were just 100 prison places left in the system.
“So that balancing act is a difficult one.
“The Prime Minister and the new Justice Secretary are looking at it again and that's the right approach.”