More than a fifth of early-release prisoners reoffend within a month, police chief reveals - as another 650 are set free in Labour scheme

More than a fifth of early release prisoners have reoffended within a month of being let out, a police chief has revealed. Sir Stephen Watson, Chief Constable of Greater Manchester Police, spoke as another 650 inmates were freed in the latest tranche of Labour's scheme to ease overcrowding. He said 22 per cent of offenders released early in Greater Manchester last month had already reoffended. 'This is, of course, a real problem for us,' he told LBC.'While we're busy building extra prison space, we need to work with our partners to mitigate the risk to the public.'I just hope that we get to a more rational place where those who should be in prison go to prison and there are spaces to retain them for as long as they deserve.'Last month, Met Police chief Sir Mark Rowley revealed his officers were arresting two or three offenders a week who had been set free under the scheme.Yesterday, Jake Sharp, 19, was among the prisoners to emerge from HMP Holme House in Stockton-on-Tees, saying 'Thank you very much' to Andy Burnham.Jailed for threats to strangle his partner, he said it was 'f****** spot on' to be out early. It came as a union boss warned that the scheme was having a 'devastating' impact on probation services, describing it as 'chaotic and poorly planned'. Prisoners at HMP Durham were seen grinning yesterday as they left prison carrying their belongings Under the scheme, inmates are being released after serving a third of their sentence behind bars, rather than half.Among other inmates celebrating release was Isa Salim, 19, who was jailed for three years in May for drug dealing and possessing a knife in Middlesbrough.Asked if he had a message for the Prime Minister, he replied: 'Nice one, thank you.' He said his first priority was sorting out his benefits followed by a meal at his favourite restaurant.At least 1,350 prisoners have left jail since October 1 under the scheme. Those serving even longer sentences will become eligible as the initiative is rolled out, with the final phase in June applying to those handed sentences of 12 years or more.But Ben Cockburn, from probation staff union Napo, warned that the scheme posed an 'existential' risk to the service.He told the justice and home affairs committee: 'It's [having] a devastating impact. We have seen a run-up that, it's being diplomatic to call it, chaotic and poorly planned. 'Learning and training have been incredibly poorly rolled out to the point where staff are trying to deal with excessive workloads and come to terms with hundreds of pages of guidance documents.'Ministers insist measures are being put in place to keep the public safe. In August, Justice Secretary Alex Norris said there would be 'the biggest expansion of tagging ever'.However, Sir Mark has pointed out that more than 100 tag breaches are being reported every day in London. He said that 95 per cent of these breaches led to offenders being re-bailed by the courts rather than sent back to prison.'The challenge, at the moment, is the number of breaches,' he said. 'We are seeing 95 per cent plus of the tagging breaches that we arrest are simply being bailed back into the community on the same conditions, so there is zero sanction.'We are arresting two or three early release offenders a week who are being recalled to prison or doing further offending.' Jake Sharp, 19, emerged from HMP Holme House grinning and making a gun salute gesture after being released from a sentence for domestic violence offencesDomestic abuse victims have described feeling 'terrified' at the prospect of their abusers being back on the streets.Hetti Barkworth-Nanton, chair of the board at domestic abuse charity Refuge, warned that tagging alone was not enough. 'The scheme is not providing the protection to survivors that it's been meant to,' she said. 'We've had some survivors who've had to go into refuges out of the area where they live because of the fear that they feel as their perpetrator is released.'There was even a survivor that we spoke to who felt like she needed to move overseas.'They're terrified and when they hear that the Ministry of Justice doesn't even know how many people are being tagged, then it just increases their fear level.'A Government spokesman said: 'Protecting the public is our top priority, and we're taking decisive action to fix the prison crisis we inherited. If we had failed to act, the police would have been forced to halt arrests, putting communities at untold risk.'We will never jeopardise public safety, which is why we're investing in more neighbourhood police, record probation funding and the toughest-ever controls, including world-first restriction zones and electronic tagging.'Any reoffending is unacceptable, and offenders who break the rules face swift action, including recall where necessary.'