Jail crisis may force release of 'harmful' prisoners

Govt suffering under backblog of prisoners

Wednesday, 10, Oct 2007 12:00

High-risk offenders could be released from prison as the government struggles to cope with the prison overcrowding crisis.

Justice secretary Jack Straw told MPs last night the prison service would have to consider releasing prisoners on indeterminate public protection (IPP) sentences once they had served their minimum tariff.

IPP sentences are handed to prisoners convicted of serious offences, including violent and sexual assault, and who the Courts judges pose a significant risk to the public.

Prisoners must serve a minimum tariff but then convince the Courts they have ceased to present a serious risk to public safety before they can be released.

The government has identified intermediate sentencing as a major cause of the rising prison population, which hit a new record high on Friday of 81,245.

Because of the cost and time involved, few IPP prisoners have been satisfactorily assessed, meaning just 11 have been released after serving their minimum tariff. Of the 3,090 IPP prisoners, 392 have now served their minimum sentence.

Mr Straw said he did not regard this as satisfactory and told MPs: "We have to take some pretty urgent action to get these people through the system.

Giving evidence to the constitutional affairs committee, he said: "Of course there has to be a judgment about whether it is safe to release them.

"But they shouldn't be held after their tariff has expired, unless it is absolutely necessary, simply because procedures are taking too long."

Campaigners claim it can be practically difficult for prisoners to prove they no longer pose a risk to the public.

The justice secretary agreed it was "not right" to imprison people who did not to be there.

Because many IPP prisoners remain in jail because a lack of facilities to assess them, the committee asked Mr Straw whether the government's only option would be to release them without assessment.

He said: "This is not a situation anyone in my position would have wished on their worst enemy still less on themselves, here we are, but I'm trying to work through it and work through it as quickly as I can."

In July the government decided non-violent offenders could be released 18 days early in a bid to ease overcrowding.

Mr Straw said last night this had failed to be as beneficial as hoped and did not ruling out extending the 18-day period.

The justice secretary hopes 300 new prison places can be built by Christmas, but the 9,500 promised by the government will take longer to deliver.