Labour's early prisoner release programme and why it's (still) a terrible idea

[musicalfrog]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c0ejwedl1gno

The family of PC Andrew Harper have rightly come out today to criticise this policy. My heart breaks for them - it really is the biggest insult.

If prisons are getting too full then build new ones - why this wasn't initiated two years ago when it was already a big problem I have no idea.

The police and CPS have gone to a lot of time and effort to get these convictions - and that ain't exactly cheap! A good number of these criminals will re-offend upon release and the process starts again - sooner than it would have if they'd served their full sentence. Not exactly saving much time and money there.

Plus the blindingly obvious fact that a larger general population will naturally bring with it a larger prison population.

You let criminals out early, the general population suffers more, you put the police and CPS under additional pressure, nobody wins except the criminals who think they have even less to fear from the process than ever before.

What exactly are Labour trying to achieve here because I can't see it?

Build the bloody prisons!

Why is it all the fault of the latest Prime Minister when the latest version (ie, not the scheme during Covid) scheme was originally planned and started when Rishi Sunak was PM? They'd released over ten thousand and extended the amount of time off within eight months of the ECSL scheme starting.

Just build more prisons doesn't take into account the time they take to build (or who would make the bazillions from the contract) or staff.

Just build more prisons doesn't take into account the time they take to build (or who would make the bazillions from the contract) or staff.

Which is exactly why they need to plan NOW.

They're still dealing with the pressure from the ones that were released under the conservatives' scheme getting themselves recalled, I suspect.

They are planning, have been planning. I bet there are loads of objections in areas where new prisons are proposed and that will slow things down.

Totally agree. At least Burnham has acknowledged that early release of violent offenders is a terrible idea.

Why don't they make one of the women's prisons male only and do early release for some non violent female offenders? That would create more capacity. And start building new prisons to match the expansion in our population.

I think this would be a vote winner. Most people are dead against early release of violent offenders.

There are three big difficulties with building prisons. 1) they are expensive to build 2) they are expensive to run (I think it’s >£70k per prisoner per year now) 3) Whenever you announce a plan for one the local community really kicks off and starts a campaign against it. House prices etc.

I agree we need more prison places. But everyone saying this should ask themselves “would I be happy to have a prison built at the end of my road? And would I be happy to have my taxes go up for the privilege?”

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cx2lpjw516eo

Good.

Andy Burnham seems to at least have a modicum of common sense, so let's see what happens 🤞

Good points @MaidsRoom. I can’t imagine anyone being happy with a prison being built near them. I’m sure lots of people would object to it. I would be concerned if one was being built near me. I guess it would have a negative impact on house prices.

I knew someone who grew up with a prison literally across the road. It housed dangerous criminals. She said it was frightening when the sirens went indicating an escape. I don't suppose they'd build prisons that close to houses now, it was an old Victorian prison. Imagine being a little kid lying in bed and being woken up by that. Too true it would affect house prices.

Broadmoor hasn’t affected house prices. You get used to the weekly alarm test to the point whereby you don’t even notice it.

so after all the points made can I just clarify:-
Andy Burnham has paused the early release scheme.
2900 additional prison places have been created in the last 2 years.
5000 new places are being created within next 5 years.

Funny how only one thing gets reported on in the media isn’t it.
James Timpson has stepped down which is a real shame as he has been a real driving force behind change and reform to prison and probation.

And don’t get me started on Conservatives privatisation of Probation service as a cost saving scheme and then “reunifying it” a mere 6 years later.

I don’t care at all if prisoners experience overcrowding. Good grief. Why would anyone care?

How close are the houses? Maybe security is better at Broadmoor as my friend said it was a regular occurrence where she lived. It's over 150 years old so maybe that's different to having a new place built. Either way even if it isn't true I think it would worry residents. The fuss locally when a new development got planning permission was quite bad, I can't imagine what they'd have been like if it had been a prison.

Broadmoor opened in 1863. The last escape was in 1991.

It isn't a prison is it?

Yes, it’s for the criminally insane.

I believe they don't need to release women because there's room for them.

It's the men they don't have room for. But there must be non-violent criminals locked up so release them first, even if they've only been in for a few months.

Just looked it up. It's a psychiatric hospital run by the NHS.

Make assisted suicide available to prisoners, I am sure a lot of lifers would rather be dead than spend 40 years banged up.

For criminals.

It isn't a prison. Some people go there instead of prison, some are transferred from prison and some are there as they are detained under the Mental Health Act. It's a hospital, look it up if you don't believe me.

The Southport killer has been transferred to Broadmoor. So he is no longer in prison?

No he's in a psychiatric hospital. He might be detained there for the rest of his sentence or he might go back to prison if he's deemed well enough. Same thing happens with physical illnesses where a prisoner might be transferred to a hospital if they need surgery.

The solicitor for the families has said the families aren't happy about it, if it's still a prison why would they be bothered?

It’s a psychiatric hospital for the criminally insane. Aka a specialist high security prison.