𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

Andy Burnham could exempt rapist prisoners from Labour’s early release scheme following a review, according to reports. The Prime Minister paused the scheme, which was due to start in September, and ordered a review into it last month.

The full findings will be announced next week, including expected amendments to the policy, which would have seen thousands of offenders in England and Wales freed earlier. Mr Burnham and Justice Secretary Alex Norris have been petitioned by victims and campaigners to reconsider returning the most serious offenders to Britain’s streets.

While ministers have been advised to keep rapists behind bars, those accused of manslaughter are still expected to be freed under the plans, The Telegraph reports. No final decisions are understood to have been made, however, and the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has pledged to “get this policy right for victims without running out of prison spaces”.

Under changes in the Sentencing Act, some 6,000 offenders were set to be let out of prison in September after serving a third of their sentence – rather than half – in a bid to ease overcrowding.

Prisoners serving longer sentences of four years or more would be eligible for release at the halfway point of their term, rather than at two-thirds as had previously been the case.

The changes were due to be phased in, beginning with prisoners serving sentences of less than 575 days, going up to inmates jailed for 12 years or more being eligible for early release in June next year.

But the MoJ maintains that any major exemptions could see prisons in England and Wales run out of space by November.

Ministers are considering excluding around 220 child rapists and a further 344 rapists from the scheme, which will see the eligible offenders released over a 10-month period starting in September, as per The Telegraph.

The Prime Minister has faced calls to also exclude those serving time for manslaughter, like PC Harper’s killers, who dragged the officer by a car down a country lane as they fled the scene of a quad bike theft in 2019.

But others have argued that manslaughter is a complex category of crime and can range from one-punch assaults and minor physical fights resulting in fatal injuries to Mr Harper’s case.

A spokesperson for the MoJ said: “Protecting the public will always be our top priority. That is why this Government is taking decisive action to fix the prison crisis it inherited while investing record sums to support victims.

“We have paused changes due to start in September to conduct an urgent review to make sure we get this policy right for victims without running out of prison spaces.”