A government minister has been unable to guarantee that rioters who are sent to prison won’t be released early under a controversial scheme to ease overcrowding.
Jonathan Reynolds, the business secretary, said the government had delivered an “incredibly swift and publicly visible” response to the riots that gripped the UK last week, including by publicising arrests and fast-tracking court cases to act as a deterrent.
Despite the response receiving praise, there have been concerns that the surge in arrests have added even more pressure to UK’s overcrowded prison system.
The most recent figures for prison capacity in August showed there were only 1,440 places remaining in the prison estate.
To deal with the aftermath of the riots, around 500 new places are set to be created to boost capacity. They include cells at HMP Stocken in the East Midlands and HMP Cookham Wood – a young offenders institution being repurposed for extra space.
Labour sought to address the issue of overcrowding by introducing an early release scheme that lets offenders out after serving 40% of their sentence – down from the previous threshold of 50%.
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Asked whether rioters who are sentenced to prison could be released early under the scheme – which comes into effect from September – Mr Reynolds insisted there was “sufficient capacity” in the system to accommodate an influx of new offenders.
But pressed on whether he could “guarantee” that rioters wouldn’t be released early under scheme, he told reporters: “I understand that they won’t be.
“But because of those difficult decisions that were made by new ministers in the new government to make sure there is sufficient capacity, moving on from the disastrous state that we inherited, it’s because of those decisions, there is capacity in the system to deal with this disorder.”
Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds. Pic: PA
Far-right violence broke out in towns and cities across the UK in the wake of a stabbing attack that left three girls dead in Southport on Monday 29 July.
False rumours were circulated online claiming the suspect was an asylum seeker who arrived in the UK by boat.
The National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) said on Saturday that a total of 779 people have been arrested over the riots, of which 349 have been charged.
Many of those charged so far have been prosecuted for violent disorder, which carries a maximum sentence of five years.
But speaking over the weekend, Stephen Parkinson, the director of public prosecutions, warned that sentences of up to 10 years will be considered for rioting.
Mr Parkinson, the head of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), told The Sunday Times that violent rioters will continue to appear in courts across the country in the coming days, with a “new phase” of cases which will include “more serious charges with stiffer penalties”.
“We warned of the consequences and we will deliver these consequences,” he told the newspaper.
“It’s not about exacting revenge, it’s about delivering justice.”
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Shabana Mahmood, the justice secretary, has praised the justice system which she said had “shown it can rise to this challenge”.
In an article for the Observer, she said that “should further criminality and disorder ensue, we will continue to deliver justice, until the last offender languishes in one of our jails”.
But she warned there were “record Crown Court backlogs” and prisons were “close to overflowing”.
“The impact of these days of disorder will be felt for months and years to come,” she wrote. “They make the job of rebuilding the justice system harder.”