The prison population has hit a new record high after an influx of rioters were jailed or remanded after last month’s disorder – as the Government prepares to release thousands of prisoners early due to overcrowding. The Telegraph has the story.
The news comes ahead of the biggest planned early release of offenders to ease overcrowding for more than a decade, with just 705 spare places left in adult male jails, and around 300 in women’s prisons.
Official figures showed that there were 88,521 men and women behind bars on Friday, 171 more than the previous record, set at the end of last week.
The prison population has risen by 1,025 people over the past four weeks and now stands at its highest level since weekly population data was first published in 2011.
The sharp rise is likely to have been driven by the number of people remanded in custody or given jail sentences following last month’s riots across the country.
The latest figures come just four days before the Government’s temporary early release scheme is due to come into effect on Tuesday September 10th.
Last week, adult male jails came close to running out of space with just 83 spots left, although that figure is now over 700. In both men’s and women’s prisons, there are 1,098 spaces spare out of an operational capacity of 89,619.
Some 2,000 prisoners will be freed on Tuesday, 40% through their sentences, rather than half under early release scheme. Between 2007 and 2010, the Labour government released 36,000 prisoners to tackle a similar overcrowding crisis.
The national 40% scheme, set out in new legislation introduced last month, will replace the ad hoc early release up to 70 days before the scheduled date introduced by the Tories earlier this year.
The policy will not apply to those convicted of sex offences, terrorism, domestic abuse or violent offences where the perpetrator has been jailed for more than four years.
It comes after the Telegraph revealed that the Ministry of Justice is considering renting prison places in foreign countries such as Estonia to help tackle the overcrowding crisis.
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