Exclude Convicted Rioters From Early Prison Release Programme, Says Tory MP
3 min read
Conservative MP Geoffrey Clifton-Brown has urged the Government not to release rioters early from prison and prioritise to keep those who are convicted behind bars.
The Labour government is planning to release some offenders after they serve 40 per cent of their sentence to reduce overcrowding in Britain's prisons. Government data has found prisons have been operating at more than 99 percent capacity since 2023.
Whitehall sources have said it could lead to the release of more than 20,000 inmates over the course of the programme. The new policy will exclude sentences for violent, sex and domestic abuse offences.
On Tuesday morning Home Office minister Heidi Alexander, Labour MP for Swindon South, told LBC many of the rioters may be excluded from the temporary measure as they had been commiting serious crimes across the country.
"When we made the changes to the automatic release point, we purposefully excluded serious violence offenses with a sentence of 4 years or more, and clearly some of the things that are going on at the moment, whether it's criminal damage, rioting, violent disorder, incitement of racial hatred, those are all offenses that carry a very significant maximum sentence," Alexander told the station.
"You know the actual sentences that handed down are a judicial decision, and that's not something that politicians like me get involved in, but I do think that there have been anyone can see this having watched the images on our television screens.
"Some, you know pretty serious and significant offences committed, and those individuals will have to face the consequences of their actions."
Cliffton-Brown, Tory MP for North Cotswolds, and Treasurer of the 1922 Committee, told PoliticsHome he believed rioters should be prioritised for lengthy sentences to present a strong message on law and order.
"They could have responded generally to reassure the public they would keep on top of the law. But I think they [Labour] are in a very difficult position. And I think we would have been in the same position," he said.
"I would make it very clear that anybody sentenced for rioting in the current riots would go to prison and would be prioritised over people being let out early. I would send that as a very strong message.
"[The rioters] are creating a disproportionate amount of fear and unrest in communities. It's not just the immediate damage of vehicles and shops and all that sort of thing. It will deter visitors, and it will deter businesses from investing in those towns and cities."
The union of prison governors has told the FT a surge in the inmates similar to that of the 2011 riots could "cripple and destabilise” England’s jails. More than 400 people have been arrested connected with the riots. “We can only lock up so many people before we physically run out of space,” Carl Davies, vice-president of the Prison Governors Association added.
The Ministry of Justice was contacted for comment.
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