David Lammy has defended the government's early release scheme for prisoners, including sex offenders, warning that opponents have no solutions to prevent the collapse of the criminal justice system. The deputy prime minister and justice secretary said failing to implement the policy could leave jails in England and Wales with no capacity by November.
Early release scheme details
From September, more than 5,000 prisoners, including killers, rapists, and sex offenders, will be released halfway through their sentences instead of the current minimum of two-thirds. This includes those convicted of manslaughter, rape, grievous bodily harm, and sex offences.
Lammy stated that the government must press ahead due to an impending capacity crisis. "We would get back to a situation where we were running, at 99, nearly 100% [capacity]," he said during a visit to HMP Wandsworth. He added that a father whose daughter had been groomed in his constituency highlighted the importance of having prison space for perpetrators.
Pressure from Labour MPs
Labour MPs, including former safeguarding minister Jess Phillips and victims' commissioner Claire Waxman, have called for the government to exclude child rapists and grooming gang members from early release. Lammy acknowledged the concerns but said no alternative solutions were offered. "I heard again, in parliament – the opposition raised this – but I noted that there were absolutely no solutions as to how we deal with the immediate situation," he said.
There is also growing disquiet among supporters of Andy Burnham, the former Greater Manchester mayor, who is expected to become prime minister on 20 July. Several Labour MPs said they would push for the plans to be dropped under a Burnham premiership. Lammy said he has been in dialogue with Burnham's team about the scheme.
Cross-party review on prison reform
Lammy made his comments while visiting HMP Wandsworth with Amber Rudd, a former Conservative home secretary recently appointed to lead a review into tackling drugs, violence, and organised crime in prisons. The inquiry aims to find cross-party policies for the medium to long term, addressing a lack of strategic planning.
Rudd said she hopes for a "roadmap to a prison system that will be a better outcome for what we've asked prisons to do – keep the public safe, keep the prisoners locked up, and look after the public's purse." She plans to draw inspiration from prison systems in Spain and Scandinavia, which focus on rehabilitation, and from Texas, where changes allowed some prisons to close.
