The government’s controversial early release scheme has come under fierce criticism from the region’s crime commissioner, who is warning that national policy is turning the criminal justice system into ‘a mockery’. The approach is heaping heightened pressure on regional resources and has led to an extra £145,000 investment to boost local community safety.
Hull and East Yorkshire is on something of a frontline of the unfolding situation, with HMP Humber in Brough releasing hundreds of prisoners early. The scheme began its second phase this week, with offenders walking out under the government’s controversial plan to ease overcrowding in jails.
About 2,000 criminals, including domestic abusers and violent offenders, are being freed this month, with another 3,000 to follow in stages over the next year. This second wave of early releases comes as members of the probation union, Napo, hold a pre-ballot meeting on taking strike action over pay and workloads.
With HMP Hull, HMP Full Sutton, and the state-of-the-art HMP Millsike alongside HMP Humber, the region is seeing a great change to its prison population. According to Crime Commissioner statistics, 75 offenders from the Humberside region have been released early so far.
Ministers’ handling of the nationwide prison capacity bottleneck has been slammed by Cllr Leo Hammond, the Deputy Police and Crime Commissioner for Humberside, who believes it is unsettling and worrying local residents.
“While I think this is a poor national policy with the government failing to address the main issues around the criminal justice system and instead making somewhat of a mockery of it, we will continue to work locally with partners to protect our communities,” he explained.
Although large facilities like HMP Humber process significant volumes of departing inmates, local crime chiefs are tightly focusing their monitoring efforts on those who intend to resettle permanently within the local area.
“While large prisons like HMP Humber may have released large numbers of prisoners, we are interested in those who are from our communities and therefore will be housed in this region,” Cllr Hammond (Conservative – Wolds Weighton ward) said.
Humberside Police are working to mitigate risks to the public
So far, official figures confirm that 75 individuals freed under the scheme have been released directly back into communities spanning East Yorkshire and Northern Lincolnshire.
To manage the influx and mitigate risks to the public, local police forces are coordinating closely with criminal justice partners to maintain rigorous oversight over all returning offenders.
“Humberside Police are working very closely with probation to ensure oversight of these individuals and safety in our communities,” Mr Hammond reassured residents.
Recognising the distress the early releases may cause to residents, the office of the Police and Crime Commissioner is taking direct financial action to shore up support networks for those affected by local crime.
“We will continue to support our partners during this time and will do all we can to fulfil our role to support the victims of crime who are sadly affected by this national scheme,” Cllr Hammond explained. “This includes investing an extra £145,000 into victim support services.”
Victims of crime engaged in the Victim Contact Scheme can receive regular updates about the offender, a government spokesperson explained.
He said: “We inherited a prison system on the brink of collapse, and had we failed to act, the police would have been forced to halt arrests, putting victims and communities at untold risk.
“To protect the public, we’re putting thousands more neighbourhood police officers on our streets, introducing the toughest-ever licence controls, expanding electronic tagging, investing in probation at record levels, and delivering 14,000 more prison places.”
Rapid-fire local arrests this week
The chaos surrounding the scheme was highlighted by three people ending up back behind bars after they were arrested by Humberside Police this week, their arrest coming just days after being freed as part of the government’s early release scheme.
Reports suggest the woman and two men were arrested for offences including burglary, drunk and disorderly behavior, and fraud by false representation. Humberside Police have now confirmed all three offenders are back behind bars.
The government scheme is having a ripple effect across the criminal justice system around the region, with prison officers sharing deep concerns about reoffending rates.
Ian Carson, a former prison officer and Prison Officers’ Association area representative for Yorkshire and the North East, previously underlined the massive frustration felt by frontline prison officers during a time of great stress in jails.
“Clearly people are very worried about this early release scheme, after all the ultimate basis of democratic society is a functioning justice system. The early release scheme shows a lack of joined-up thinking and calls into question the decision-making process of policy-makers,” he said.
By: Paul Drury-Bradey, LDRS
