When will the early prisoner release scheme review take place?
- The prime minister has paused an early prison release scheme, which was set to allow approximately 6,000 criminals to be released early under the new Sentencing Act coming into force in September.
- Andy Burnham will conduct an urgent review of the scheme, with junior housing minister Sally Jameson stating decisions need to be made “very quickly” within the “coming days and weeks.”
- The pause followed strong criticism from the family of Pc Andrew Harper, who was killed in 2019, after two of his killers, Jessie Cole and Albert Bowers, became eligible for early release under the proposed changes.
- Under the now-paused scheme, some offenders would have been released after serving a third of their sentence instead of half, or half instead of two-thirds, as a measure to alleviate prison overcrowding.
- Pc Harper’s widow, Lissie Harper, described the scheme as “deplorable,” while his mother, Debbie Adlam, welcomed the pause as a “good start” but stressed that “it’s not enough.”
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