Killers and rapists to be freed early starting in September

[IwantToRetire]

David Lammy, the Justice Secretary, is to implement legal changes that will see criminals accused of serious offences released early for the first time as part of Government efforts to prevent jails from running out of space.

They include prisoners convicted of manslaughter, rape, GBH and sex offences who will be eligible for release halfway through their sentences rather than serving the current tariff of two-thirds of their sentence.

For a criminal jailed for a total of 15 years for manslaughter or rape, it will mean they will be freed after 7.5 years rather than 10, provided they are assessed to have behaved well and have not committed any serious rule breaches while in prison.

Criminals convicted of burglary, theft, assault and repeated shoplifting will be freed as little as a third of the way through their sentences, rather than the current 40 per cent, provided they have not committed any serious rule breaches.

It is understood that the first 700 offenders will be freed in September, followed by similar numbers for each of the next nine months in a staggered release plan to get the new system up and running.

Article continues at https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/06/25/killers-rapists-freed-early-first-time-prison-overcrowding/

And at https://archive.is/yPCul

This was announced 6 days ago and somehow never made the news. Only because C4 news today had a segment on it. Interviews with women who have received letters about their rapist being released.

Comment here https://insidetime.org/newsround/earlier-releases-under-sentencing-act-to-start-in-september/

If the youtube link doesn't work this is the C4 link
https://www.channel4.com/news/prisons-minister-grilled-over-early-release-scheme

Labour are open hypocrites. On one hand against VAWG on the other doing nothing effective about it.
The callous indifference to victims of sending them letters warning their rapists may be released just says it all.

From Sammy Woodhouse;
I've been terrorised all my childhood by this man, and he's going to be back out in society?'

Carol Higgins, who was repeatedly raped by her father, received a letter saying he may be released early under the new Labour scheme. Myself and many across the country have received the same letter.

x.com/i/status/2072391559765491835

I think this is one part of a wholly flawed system. Our prisons are full. Our criminal justice system is on its knees. Time to trial is crazy so people (mainly men) are spending over a year in jail before they’ve been convicted of anything. I believe we need complete reform of the criminal justice system. Prison is not an effective punishment or treatment for most crimes. We have Victorian solution that is no longer fit for purpose. Prison is only the right solution for the relatively small number of prisoners who pose a real risk to others. These are being released early because the prisons are full of people who should not be there. That said, my understanding is that there are pretty strict criteria associated with early release regarding behaviour, rehabilitation and risk.

Shitting fucking fuck.

Around 70% of female prisoners are convicted of a non violent offence, presumably they could be released and women's prisons repurposed. I bet they don't do it.

We need to fund prisons by confiscating the assets of wealthy career criminals, starting with Boris Johnson. If only we could.

Absolutely this.
What a bloody joke.

Agreed but only 4% of the prison population is female so it wouldn’t solve the problem. The real problem is the huge number of men in prison who have some combination of addiction, mental health issues, lack of education and training who will not be helped in any way by prison.

But it’s not popular. The media prefers a polarising narrative. Many people in prison never stood a chance and need help. Prison isn’t the answer in most cases.

Acts of physical.violence, sexual assaults, child sexual abuse and manslaughter should not be included in these early release schemes. These prisoners should serve their full sentences. Another experiment where the general public are the guinea-pigs. I can't imagine how the victims of these crimes will feel.

Nightmare, poor women.

Further evidence - as if it were needed - that Labour has contempt for women and their needs and concerns. No murderer, rapist or other sex offender should ever be released early.😨

Further evidence - as if it were needed - that Labour has contempt for women and their needs and concerns. No murderer, rapist or other sex offender should ever be released early.😨

Further evidence - as if it were needed - that Labour has contempt for women and their needs and concerns. No murderer, rapist or other sex offender should ever be released early.😨

Agree. Build more fucking prisons if needed.

There is always money for defence, crazy projects that haven’t materialized, but no one thinks about women and the need to keep dangerous men off the streets.

They could refit the old military bases to be prisons and put criminals in those. We don’t need every last one for asylum seekers. I raise my eyebrows at the fact that mysteriously all our prisons are full and have been since this government turned up who seem very open to just letting men off for crimes, meanwhile the tories didn’t have this problem at all and nor did the previous labour government. But now we suddenly need 700 extra spaces a month? But we managed to squeeze in all those rioters and almost no one gets a long custodial sentence these days. But the prisons are full… 🧐 Colour me skeptical. I think they just want to get costs of housing prisoners down and they think the public will swallow this because no one pushed back when they started this early release scheme when they said murderers and rapists wouldn’t be eligible.

I was shocked this hadn't been in the news, as it was announced nearly a week ago.

This is more far reaching than the early release that happened last year, as they are actually specifically saying (see article) that a violent man will no longer receive a severe sentence.

Some of the interviews by C4 are heartbreaking. Knowing that the father that raped you will now serve less time than the year she spent trying to get justice.

And the suggestion that somehow they will be monitored and there will be a carrot and stick approach (copied from the US) will impinge on any of these men is laughable.

And whilst I agree with the comment about some who end up in prison when they should be in a mental health facility, what is the risk there.

How many of the recent acts of violence (ie the ones we hear about) were committed by someone who should have been in such a facility.

Another aspect which no one is dealing with is in fact the shortage of prison staff.

As in other parts of the UK when UK citizens dont want to do various jobs the UK has been happy to recruit professionals from other countries.

In this instance qualified prison officers from West Africa.

And apart from the system falling apart and the racism they face, they are now put in the stupid position of being needed, but due to the low level of prison pay do not reach the minimum salary qualification level to get a work visa.

Just how fucked are we as a country that our so called leaders, or their civil servants, have created a mess like this.

I only heard about this by chance as it came on the radio and i was totally taken aback. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m002x9wb

Are you fucking kidding!!

AND I WAS JUST STARTING TO THINK… ahhh Burnham doesn’t sound too bad actually. Maybe Labour won’t be fucking awful 😞

Well this is the stupidity of pretending politics is about some sort of charismatic individual.

For all I know this dates back decades.

We cant build a high speed railway line.

NHS money seems to disappear into a administration vortex.

No government has reversed the sale of council housing which has created as much as any other fact the housing crisis we now have.

And on and on.

This is disgusting, and says everything about how much the government values innocent victims' lives.

If the prisons are full and drastic measures are needed, and valuing life clearly isn't an issue, then the way to solve the problem is not to just release rapists and killers early. Unless you're releasing them into the sea. Frankly, just execute the ones you don't have room for, and free up some space that way. It's not ideal, but better than the other options.