Sep 3, 2024
Some serious sex offenders and other violent criminals will be released under Labour’s early release scheme despite government assurances that serious crimes will be excluded from the policy, Channel 4 News understands.
Some serious sex offenders and other violent criminals will be released under Labour’s early release scheme despite government assurances that serious crimes will be excluded from the policy, Channel 4 News understands.
The ‘SDS40’ scheme will start next week as part of the government’s proposals to tackle prison overcrowding.
Channel 4 News has heard of cases of prisoners serving consecutive sentences where the end date takes into account sentences for less serious offences.
This means they will qualify under ‘SDS40’ to be released sooner than they were set at the point of conviction, reducing the time available to plan for their return to the community.
Sources have now come forward with serious concerns about public protection, citing “loopholes” in the policy, as one representative of NAPO – the union for probation staff – described the proposal as a “roll of the dice.”
This is because the program also studies cases of prisoners who will be released four months early after serving long sentences for serious sexual offenses.
He qualifies for ‘SDS40’ because he has now served the length of a sentence imposed for a sexual offense and has a shorter consecutive sentence for a less serious offense identified as a prison under ‘SDS40’. This means he could be out of prison in a matter of weeks.
His victim had expected him to remain in prison until next year.
Speaking anonymously to Channel 4 News about the case, one whistleblower in the Probation Service said it was difficult to fast-track him to the required MAPPA Level 2 with this reduced time and losing his four-month release plan to the attention of professionals. associated with her case.
“This is a clear loophole for me. It does not correspond to justice. It should not correspond to the rights of the victims”, he said.
Commenting further on the government’s plans, he added:
“This law – this statutory instrument – was drafted quickly and it has not been applied. It came into effect on September 10. So, I think about it – and there will be other cases – I think it should be looked at where there are many sentences. And especially if the longest sentence is a serious offense – like a sex offense – why would anyone benefit from the system when the general premise is that there are exceptions that include these types of offences.
NAPO told Channel 4 News about other frontline testing workers reporting similar concerns, commenting:
“I have a high-risk male convicted of Stalking that would have excluded him from early release. However, because he had a driving offence, he is now eligible for early release. This appears to be a mockery of what the Government is saying but also a matter of risk.
These new figures obtained exclusively by Channel 4 News FactCheck reveal that the Probation Service has been working over capacity every month since January 2023.
The data, which covers the period until June 2024 and was obtained through a freedom of information request, shows that the average probation officer works the equivalent of six days to complete a five-day work week.
In a statement to Channel 4 News, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Justice said:
“The new government inherited a justice system in crisis, with prisons at the point of collapse. It has been forced to introduce an early release program to end the crisis which will overwhelm the criminal justice system, meaning we will no longer be able to lock up dangerous criminals and protect the public.
“The new Lord Chancellor announced in July that he was scrapping the previous government’s early release scheme, replacing it with a system that gives probation staff more time to prepare for the release of prisoners. The government has also made plans to take on more than 1,000 new trainee probation officers in March 2025 to meet the additional demand.
