Labour has been accused of making “nonsense” claims about its prison early-release programme after a further 650 inmates were freed.
Nick Timothy, the shadow justice secretary, said reoffending had gone “off the charts” under the Government’s scheme, which allows some prisoners to leave custody after serving just one-third of their sentence.
The Conservative frontbencher also criticised ministers for not publishing figures showing how many of those released had been fitted with electronic tags.
Mr Timothy said: “The Justice Secretary told the country that proper safeguards would be put in place, with the presumption that all released prisoners would be tagged.
“He called it the toughest tagging regime in history, but that was nonsense.
“We know a majority of prisoners are not being tagged before release, and we know reoffending is off the charts already.
“The Met says there have been 100 tag breaches in London each day since Labour’s first early-release scheme began, while two or three prisoners released early are being re-arrested every week.”
During an urgent question in the House of Commons, Mr Timothy pressed ministers for figures on how many prisoners had been tagged, how many had not, and how many had breached the conditions of their release.
Justice minister Jake Richards replied: “We will be setting out data in relation to prison releases, as we always do, and the next batch of data will be released in January of next year.
“This is a new sentencing regime and it’s right that we release the data in the appropriate way, as we have always done.”
The dispute came as another 650 offenders were released early under the Government’s new scheme, which was introduced on October 1.
The programme is expected to release up to 50,000 prisoners each year.
Some of those freed in the second wave were seen cheering and punching the air as they walked out of prison.
The group includes people serving sentences of up to two and a half years for a range of offences, including violent crimes and domestic abuse.
Prisoners were seen leaving HMP Durham in north-east England this morning, with one man raising his fist in celebration
At HMP Durham, one man punched the air and shouted: “Yes cuzzie.”
Asked for his view of the early-release scheme, he replied: “F****** belta.”
Another inmate was asked whether he had a message for the Prime Minister. He replied: “Scrap the recalls.”
The prisoner said that, although he was from Sunderland, he had been sent to Bristol, where he was arrested, and needed to travel there immediately or risk being recalled to prison.
The scheme will expand monthly to cover people serving longer sentences. Its tenth and final extension, due in early June, will apply to prisoners handed terms of 12 years or more.
Prisoners previously due to serve 40 or 50 per cent of the sentences handed down by the courts are now being freed after serving just 33 per cent.
As the scheme is rolled out in the coming months, criminals convicted of certain violent or sexual offences who were previously eligible for release after serving two-thirds of their sentence will instead be let out at the halfway stage.
The man appeared to be in a celebratory mood after being let out of prison
Prisoners leaving HMP Durham this morning during another wave of early releases
Unlike Labour’s previous programme – which began two years ago and which has let out more than 70,000 offenders so far – the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) will not publish figures on how many actually walk free under the new scheme.
Instead, the number of criminals benefitting from significant reductions to their sentences will be rolled into an existing set of statistics and cannot be separately identified.
It will leave the public and MPs in the dark about the full scale of Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s soft justice bonanza.
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Mr Timothy told Our News Outlet on Monday that it ‘looks like a cover-up by Labour to hide the true scale of their latest disastrous early release scheme’.
He called on ministers to ‘come clean and explain why they refuse to publish this data’.
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has announced plans to build 50,000 new jail places if her party wins the next General Election, increasing the size of the prison estate by more than 50 per cent.
Figures show jails in England and Wales continue to operate at almost 98 per cent capacity despite the first wave of early releases this month. The prison population stood at 87,033 on Monday, leaving just 1,951 cells standing empty.
There are no overall figures on how many released prisoners have gone on to commit new crimes so far.
However, one senior Metropolitan Police officer last week warned that an offender freed under the new scheme had committed a series of new crimes with ‘astonishing’ speed after his release.
Prolific offender Michael Bogle, 38, admitted 11 shoplifting offences and was re-jailed.
A man leaving Durham this morning carrying a drawstring bag containing his belongings
The registered sex offender had previously been photographed walking out of HMP Wandsworth on the first day of the release scheme. Asked if he had a message for Mr Burnham, he said: ‘Keep the early release going. It’s good.’
Meanwhile, Greater Manchester Police said eight men had been arrested within days of being released early for offences including robbery, domestic violence and drugs.
The Conservatives have repeatedly warned the PM’s programme poses an ‘acute threat’ to public safety.
A man (centre) is met as he leaves Durham Prison this morning
A prisoner leaves HMP Birmingham this morning after being set free under the scheme
Prolific offender Michael Bogle, 38, was freed from HMP Wandsworth on the first day of the programme, and committed fresh crimes with ‘astonishing’ speed, police said
The releases amount to a mammoth expansion of Labour’s previous early release scheme, launched in September 2024 to create space in the overcrowded prison estate.
MoJ documents showed Labour’s scheme will be a ‘new permanent approach’ and that, after the first day of releases in each group, the early releases will ‘continue on a business-as-usual basis’.
It added: ‘For context, approximately 4,500 offenders are released from custody in a typical month.’
The majority of those criminals will benefit from the new early release terms, brought into law by the Sentencing Act earlier this year.
The Government has refused to disclose how many prisoners are projected to be let out early in total.
However, Labour’s first attempt at an early release scheme was leading to between 3,000 and 4,000 early releases every month.
The new programme is likely to see about 50,000 offenders a year freed early, once excluded groups are taken into account.
Life-sentenced prisoners, such as murderers, and those serving extended sentences are ineligible.
Other categories of violent and sexual criminals are also excluded after public outcry led to a series of U-turns by Mr Burnham over the summer.
An MoJ spokesman said: ‘We inherited a prison system on the brink of collapse.
‘If we had failed to act the police would have been forced to halt arrests, putting communities at untold risk.
‘Our changes are part of a long-term overhaul of sentencing, ending the crisis in our prisons and keeping dangerous offenders behind bars.
‘The Sentencing Act follows an independent review and was fully scrutinised by Parliament.’
