Aunt of murdered Zara Aleena warns Labour is taking a 'dangerous gamble with public safety' as ministers unveil plan to release prisoners after just 40% of sentences - with Keir Starmer claiming jails are full
Keir Starmer was warned he is taking a 'dangerous gamble with public safety' today as ministers prepare to unveil plans to release thousands of prisoners early.
The aunt of Zara Aleena, who was murdered by a man who had been out on licence for nine days, raised concerns that convicts will not be 'supervised adequately'.
Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood is set to announce a series of measures later designed to ease overcrowding in jails and avert 'unchecked criminality on our streets'.
They are expected to include allowing less serious offenders to be automatically freed after serving 40 per cent of their sentence, rather than the current 50 per cent.
Sir Keir has installed Lord James Timpson, who previously argued that around two-thirds of prisoners did not need to be locked up, as prisons minister.
The PM teed up the move as he gave a press conference at the NATO summit overnight, insisting there were 'far too many prisoners for the prison places that we've got'.
Pointing the finger at the previous government, he said: 'We knew there was going to be a problem, but the scale of the problem was worse than we thought.'
However, Conservatives accused the Government of deploying scare tactics. A senior Tory source said: 'This is shameless scaremongering from the Labour Party that risks causing mass panic.
'Labour have come into government with hundreds of prison places available – but they've lost their nerve, and are now stoking public panic for political gain.'
Keir Starmer (pictured at the NATO summit) was warned he is taking a 'dangerous gamble with public safety' as ministers prepare to unveil plans to release thousands of prisoners early
Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood is set to unveil a series of measures later designed to ease overcrowding in jails and avert 'unchecked criminality on our streets'
A graph showing the maximum capacity of prisoners in comparison to the prison population
The aunt of Zara Aleena (pictured), who was murdered by a man who had been out on licence for nine days, raised alarm that convicts will not be 'supervised adequately'
Ms Aleena's aunt Farah Naz told BBC Breakfast: 'If the system cannot deal with those people being released into the community, then those people are not going to be supervised adequately.
'And when people, perpetrators, even thieves are not supervised adequately, crime can escalate. It doesn't always escalate, but it can.
'Then we've got unsupervised people because of a poor probation service in the community and people become emboldened – 'well I can do what I like if nobody is supervising me' – and that's what happened in our situation.
'It was a man that was emboldened because he was not supervised, he was not assessed, he was constantly allowed to do what he wanted to do, and therein lies a dangerous gamble with public safety with this move right now.'
In the case of Ms Aleena's killer Jordan McSweeney, Ms Naz said the probation service was 'not fit to deliver supervision' or 'act in a timely way' when he broke his licence conditions.
Overall, 20,000 inmates could be released early in the next few months.
Answering questions at the NATO summit, Sir Keir said: 'The crux of the problem we face at the moment, and it is a terrible problem, is that we've got far too many prisoners for the prison places that we've got and we soon will have.
'That is gross irresponsibility of the outgoing government. It is a basic function of government that you should have enough places for your prisoners that judges are sending to prison.
'And for that to have failed I think tells you something material about the last government – that we have to pick this up and we have to fix it.
'I can't build a prison in the first seven days of a Labour government.'
Sir Keir added: 'We knew there was going to be a problem, but the scale of the problem was worse than we thought.
'And the nature of the problem is pretty unforgivable in my book, having worked in criminal justice, to have allowed your criminal justice system to get to a state where you simply haven't got the prison places for prisoners.
'This is a predictable problem – it's shocking. And I think that when further details are released of this, you'll have plenty of extra questions for those that came before us.'
Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley said plans to release some prisoners early were 'the least worst option'.
He told ITV's Good Morning Britain: 'The Government have got a situation where there's no easy solution.
'Prisons are very, very close to full and filling up day in day out. The worst possible thing would be for the system to block, because the system blocks in prisons if they get completely full. That kicks back into the courts and into what we do. And that's really dangerous for the public.
'So the Government are forced into making a rapid decision to avoid that risk. So it's going to be the least worst option they're going to have to find, so I understand what they're trying to do, however not ideal it is.'
Ahead of a speech by Ms Mahmood, a government spokesman said: 'The Justice Secretary will explain that if prisons were to run out of places, police cells would rapidly fill up, courts would be forced to delay cases and police unable to arrest dangerous criminals – putting the public at risk from unchecked criminality on our streets.'
One senior police source said a failure to free up prison cells risked moving into 'uncharted territory'.
It would leave frontline police almost powerless to act against criminals and thugs, it was suggested.
Government insiders said prisons – currently with just 700 spare places for adult males – could be completely full towards the end of next month.
'If nothing was done, I would be professionally very, very worried by the August bank holiday,' a senior prisons source said.
Once the jails are full, police station cells would be at capacity just days later – meaning police officers would effectively be unable to arrest criminals on the streets, it was suggested.
One senior police source said a failure to free up prison cells risked moving into 'uncharted territory' (stock image)
A senior police source said the system would grind to a halt if newly remanded criminals could not be sent from the courts to prison.
'If those prisoners aren't collected, we very quickly will run out of space in police cells,' the source said.
'Many forces we estimated would run out of space in about three days or less.
'And clearly that is a situation that is completely intolerable, because you would get to the point where arresting officers wouldn't have anywhere to take people they're arresting.
'And, of course, that in itself may impact on behaviour of the public and particularly criminals.
'So that would be a very serious situation to get into and uncharted territory and we need to avoid that at all costs.'
It is understood that senior figures in the criminal justice system fear it could trigger looting, opportunistic crimes and brazen breaches of bail conditions by offenders living in the community.
Former Conservative justice secretary Alex Chalk – who lost his seat last week – said Labour's reported plan 'will buy you 18 months, but it won't buy you any more'.
Asked if former PM Rishi Sunak had blocked similar measures, Mr Chalk refused to disclose private discussions but added: 'It is reasonable to say there were a variety of views about what could be got through Parliament.'
Tory MP Neil O'Brien said: 'The idea that we would be safer if lots of criminals are let out of jail is absolute nonsense.
'We already know the new prisons minister James Timpson thinks that only one third of prisoners should even be there.
'Both he and the Prime Minister are fundamentally anti-prison.'
