Burnham pauses early prison release scheme

Andy Burnham has announced he is pausing a scheme which would have seen thousands of prisoners in England and Wales eligible to be released early.

"No prisoners will be let out under this policy until we have conducted an urgent review and done everything we can to minimise risk to the public," the prime minister said.

In 2024, the Labour government announced emergency measures to release some prisoners early to ease overcrowding.

Under the Sentencing Act, which was due to come into effect in September, some offenders would have been let out after serving a third of their sentence, rather than half.

The rest of their sentence would be spent in the community, where they would be monitored and could be returned to prison if they offended again.

Those who would have served two-thirds of their sentence would instead be released after serving half of their sentence.

This decision comes after criticism from the family of PC Andrew Harper, who was killed in 2019 when he was dragged by a car down a country road by three teenagers.

Two of the killers of PC Harper, who were both sentenced to 13 years in prison, would have benefited from the scheme from June 2027, when the longest fixed sentences would have been added to the scheme.

PC Harper's widow, Lissie, called the plans "deplorable" and said politicians were "making decisions from behind a desk that will have real and lasting consequences" for the families of victims.

His mother, meanwhile, said her son had not been given "proper justice" and "every victim will be feeling the same" about the early prison release scheme.

The policy was brought in to ease overcrowding in the prison system but has been criticised by opposition parties, as well as victims and their families.

Thousands of letters had been sent to victims in recent weeks, warning them that the early release scheme was coming in September.

But in a statement on Thursday, Burnham said: "Keeping the public safe will always be my top priority.

"I am working closely with the new justice secretary and have instructed my team to put a pause on the changes that were due to start in September.

"No prisoners will be let out under this policy until we have conducted an urgent review and done everything we can to minimise risk to the public.

"Where changes are needed, we will not hesitate to make them."