Mum of Nottingham attacks victim backs calls to stop killers’ early release

Speaking on Radio 4’s Today programme, Bridget Phillipson, Minister for Women and Equalities, defended the early release scheme.

She said the government had faced “some really difficult and unpalatable choices” in dealing with prison overcrowding and that they had faced “the wholesale collapse of the criminal justice system”.

Phillipson said: “We have been clear that the most serious offenders will be exempt from that early release programme.

“But the reality of what we are confronting is that, if allowed to go unchecked, we could end up in a position where someone who is arrested for very serious offences, for example offences related to violence against a woman, and we wouldn’t have anywhere to send that individual.”

A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said: “We share the public’s anger that these options are even being considered, after we inherited a prison system on the brink of collapse.

“We are fixing this by building 14,000 new prison places, expanding electronic tagging on an unprecedented scale, and investing in probation services at record levels.

“We are also exploring how we can go further, including faster deportation of foreign criminals, better use of the women’s estate and reviewing the unjust IPP sentences.”

The prime minister has asked the justice secretary to present a plan for further changes of the early release scheme to parliament next month.

Phillipson confirmed that “full details” would be set out before parliament next week.