𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

Criminals being let out of prison after serving as little as a third of their sentence behind bars will be “part of business as usual”, Alex Norris has admitted. The Justice Secretary, in a staggering admission, defended Labour’s softest sentencing reforms in a generation despite outrage from victims. And he admitted it could take 10 years to get the prison overcrowding crisis under control.

Mr Norris told LBC: “The Prime Minister has been very clear that he wants 10-year solutions. I’m working on a goal that gets us to sustainable prison capacity 10 years into the future. I wish predecessors 10 years had done that ago frankly, they haven’t, but we’re going to. This is now part of business as usual.”

Under Labour’s plans, many convicts will be out after spending just a third of their jail term in prison. And those sentenced to four years or more will only be let out after serving 50% of their sentence behind bars.

Mr Norris told LBC: “The Prime Minister has been very clear that he wants 10-year solutions. I’m working on a goal that gets us to sustainable prison capacity 10 years into the future. I wish predecessors 10 years had done that ago frankly, they haven’t, but we’re going to.

“This is now part of business as usual.

“The progression model, where people come out and then are subject to very significant controls.

“You know that is the nature of sentencing in this country from this month.

“But you know we want to make sure, as I say, we have to make sure there’s enough capacity.

“At the moment, we’ve run out in November. We’ve pushed that outwards, and we are working on making sure that’s a 10-year solution.”

Prime Minister Andy Burnham has faced widespread fury over Labour’s early release, following revelations PC Andrew Harper’s killers would get out early.

Mr Burnham – who had resisted calls to keep killers behind bars – confirmed anyone convicted of unlawful killing, including all forms of manslaughter and death by dangerous driving, will be excluded from the scheme.

Grooming gang perpetrators will also be blocked from early release after concerns were raised about a potential loophole in the system.

This will keep another 1,400 prisoners behind bars for longer, justice chiefs said.

The first tranche of releases has been delayed – from September to October. Criminals handed sentences of less than 18 months will be the first to benefit from Labour’s softest sentencing reforms in a generation.

Offenders handed more than 12 years in jail – some of the most dangerous criminals in the country – will start to be freed next June.

And victims whose perpetrators are due for early prison release will be asked what restrictions they want imposed “so they can live their life fully”.

Mr Norris told BBC Breakfast: “They will be written to. Letters start going out today.

“They will all be contacted individually by a victim liaison officer, who will then talk to them about, firstly, is their perpetrator coming out sooner than they expected? But secondly – and this is really crucial – that if their perpetrator is coming out sooner, or indeed when their perpetrator comes out in the future, what sort of controls do they want to see so they can live their life fully?”

He said offenders would be “subject to the widest range of tools we’ve ever had”, including restriction zones, tagging, bans on attending football games or night clubs.

Mr Norris continued: “We will be talking through our victim liaison officers to victims and survivors to ask them how they live their lives, so that we can design the restrictions on their perpetrator, so that they live around their victims and survivors, rather than the other way round, which has been the case for far too long.”