More than 2,500 prisoners to be freed before Christmas under Labour's early release scheme

More than 2,500 prisoners are set to be freed before Christmas under Labour's early release scheme. An official timetable published yesterday revealed the Ministry of Justice planned to fast-track the early releases - which include violent offenders and domestic abusers -starting with 1,350 prisoners freed over two days in October. They will come before a further 650 prisoners in November and 550 in December, who will be released after serving as little as a third of their sentences. As a result, more than 50 per cent of the 4,500 offenders set to be freed under Labour's scheme will be released before Christmas. Prime Minister Andy Burnham said yesterday in the Commons that he understood the 'anguish' bereaved families faced as a result of changes to the early prisoner release programme, but he stopped short of apologising to them.Shadow justice secretary Nick Timothy warned that the fast-track system would leave the probation service overwhelmed. 'The public will pay the price,' he said. 'Over 2,500 criminals will be back on the streets by Christmas. Labour's shambolic early release scheme is to blame.'The aim of the scheme was to prevent overcrowded prisons from running out of space. But Claire Waxman, the victims commissioner, said Andy Burnham's scheme risked creating a 'doom-loop' where the criminal justice system went from 'crisis to crisis'. Labour's early release scheme started in September 2024 with the aim of easing overcrowding in jails. A police officer and inmates are pictured outside Brixton Prison in London that month Prime Minister Andy Burnham has been forced to make changes to the scheme to ensure PC Andrew Harper's killers are not eligible for early release PC Harper's killers Albert Bowers (left) and Jessie Cole (right), pictured outside court in 2020'Months into this crisis, I am still seeking assurance that Government has a credible answer to how it will manage more offenders in the community while managing risk, protecting victims and ensuring agencies have the capacity to act quickly when warning signs emerge,' she said. The timetable was initially set to begin on Tuesday - with 6,000 prisoners freed early - but was set back by Mr Burnham's decision to pause the scheme. This review resulted in 1,400 prisoners being exempted, including those convicted of manslaughter such as PC Andrew Harper's killers. As a result, the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has been forced to accelerate the earlier releases which will begin next month.Mr Burnham yesterday faced a call from Plaid Cymru MP Ann Davies to apologise to victims of crime and their families, who feared killers could be released sooner.The Government has plans to free prisoners earlier in their sentences to tackle overcrowding in jails across England and Wales.The rules of the current scheme allow some prisoners to be released after serving 40% of their fixed-term sentence, rather than the usual 50%.The Sentencing Act 2026, which became law earlier this year, allows for an expansion of the early release scheme by reducing the threshold from 40% of a fixed-term sentence to a third.The Act also allows for prisoners serving standard determinate sentences of more than four years for certain violent and sexual offences to have their automatic release point reduced from two-thirds of the sentence to halfway.At the end of August, Mr Burnham said the Government will exclude prisoners from sentencing changes if they were jailed for offences such as manslaughter, causing death by dangerous driving, and causing or allowing the death of a child.Ms Davies, the Caerfyrddin MP, told the Commons bereaved families faced 'months of anguish' before the Prime Minister's announcement.She told MPs this included the family of Aaron Jones, 38, who died in the village of Llanpumsaint in Carmarthenshire in December 2024.Driver Daniel Wyke, from Carmarthen, admitted causing the death of Mr Jones and was jailed for four-and-a-half-years earlier this year.Ms Davies asked: 'Will the Prime Minister now apologise to victims and their families put through significant distress throughout this process? Mr Burnham told the Commons yesterday that he understood the 'anguish' bereaved families faced as a result of changes to the early prisoner release programme'Can he also assure them that, unlike the Labour precedent, there will be no Government U-turn on this?'Mr Burnham replied: 'I do understand their anguish.'He added: 'I listened to what they were saying – I came in and asked for changes to the early release scheme, and we excluded rape, grooming and child sex offences.'But hearing those voices, I wasn't satisfied and I pushed the system to go further.'And as a result of that, we are going further and excluding death by dangerous driving and other manslaughter offences.'So, I hope now she can give that certainty to the family – give them also my best wishes.'I believe we're coming to the right position and I can assure her that the Justice Secretary (Alex Norris) will be on top of this situation, so that we ensure we are never in this position again.'Mr Norris on Tuesday said alongside early release scheme changes, the Government was 'bringing forward more than £110 million worth of funding' to free up prison space 'headroom'.He continued: 'We have identified where we can accelerate the delivery of more places, including converting space within prisons into cells, and we're pushing to deliver current building plans faster.'Mr Norris warned prisons were 'regularly at 99% capacity' when Labour took office in 2024, 'with fewer than 100 places available at one stage – one bad day away from running out of space, courts forced to suspend trials, police unable to make arrests'.Pia Sinha, chief executive of the Prison Reform Trust, said: 'The Government recognises the severity of the pressure on our prison system.'However, once again it is treating the symptom rather than the cause of the crisis.'By announcing that part of the capacity in prisons is going to come by re-purposing offices and unused space within the prison estate, the Government is signalling clearly that it is trading rehabilitation for the warehousing of prisoners.'This decision comes with very real risks – risks that people leave prison without addressing their resettlement needs, risks that they will be recalled back into custody and risks that the public remain unsafe.'More prison places alone will not create a safer, more effective justice system.'Without more concerted action to reduce unnecessary imprisonment, improve community alternatives and tackle the drivers of reoffending, new prison places will simply fill up as quickly as they are built.'Ms Sinha added: 'The Government must pay equal attention to reducing demand as it is toward increasing supply.'Lasting public safety will come from a balanced approach that reserves custody for those who genuinely need to be there, while investing in the services that prevent crime, reduce reoffending and help people rebuild their lives.'Mr Burnham last week announced PC Andrew Harper's killers would be excluded from being eligible for early release.The premier said anyone convicted of unlawful killing would be ruled out of the scheme after being forced to make changes in order to keep Albert Bowers and Jessie Cole behind bars. Bowers and Cole, two of PC Harper's three killers, were passengers in the car that dragged the police officer down a country road after he got caught in a strap attached to the vehicle as they fled the scene of a quad bike theft in Sulhamstead, Berkshire, in 2019.There has been a major public and political outcry at the possibility that under the scheme designed to reduce overcrowding they would be released next year, just halfway through their 13-year sentences for manslaughter.Mr Burnham had wanted to rule out just killers of emergency service workers from the scheme but was told such a move would open the door to legal challenges that the government would probably lose.Instead, the PM told the BBC all those in prison for unlawful killing would be ruled out – including death by dangerous driving – alongside those convicted of historic child sex offences and indecent assault.It means that a loophole that could also have let those behind grooming gang outrages walk free is also closed.