When Labour got into government, they described prisons as a powder keg ready to blow.
Ministers blamed the previous Conservative administration for pushing the prison system almost to breaking point, and they acknowledged something campaigners had been saying for years – the entire system is in crisis.
But now Labour are in government and it is their responsibility to fix the entire justice system. Today, they made their first step.
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Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood brought legislation to the House of Commons that will allow some prisoners to be released early.
Approved by MPs today and starting from September, it will kickstart Labour’s plan to release thousands of non-violent prisoners who have served 40% of their sentences in the hope it frees up spaces for more violent offenders.
The government says certain crimes will be excluded, including those sentenced for serious violent offences of four years or more and all sex offences.
There will also be no early release for offenders who have been jailed in connection to domestic abuse crimes, including stalking and choking.
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This all comes as figures were released today highlighting not only the state of overcrowding in prisons but the deteriorating state of prisons in England and Wales as a whole.
The problem Labour have inherited is a prison population that has risen to above 87,000 for the first time – an increase of 13% from three years ago.
The overcrowding rate is at the highest it has ever been and 40% of prisons are now rated as either of “concern” or “serious concern”.
A series of recent reports have described some prisons in squalor and overrun by drugs, with others even being infested by rats and cockroaches.
And the conditions inside have knock-on effects. Self-harm inside prisons is now the highest it has ever been.
New Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood is facing the challenge of tackling the prisons crisis. Pic: PA
Vanessa Frake-Harris is a former governor and has seen these deteriorating conditions in her 27 years working inside prisons.
She says the only way to reform the system is to inject much more funding into prisons.
“The violence in prisons has increased because the staffing is lacking,” she told me. “We need to put some serious money into our prisons.
“Wandsworth has sewage running down corridors.
“It’s all very well saying lock them up. But what about the staff?”
This plan could be a bitter pill for some of the public to swallow though.
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Why are prisons overcrowded?
According to a recent YouGov poll, only one in six people support the government’s plan to release prisoners early.
Steve Gillan from the Prison Officers Association warns the government that it needs to bring the public with it.
“If I was a victim of crime, I’d have anxiety about releasing prisoners early,” he said.
“We need to look at alternatives, and the general public need to be taken along on this journey so it can be explained to them fully.
“This isn’t being soft on crime. We’re trying to make prisons work.”
The government admits its strategy is just a short-term move. Today it announced it would launch a review into the causes of overcrowding, with an aim to complete it by the end of the year.
There is an acknowledgement from all sides of the House that the scale of the crisis means bigger reform is long overdue and Labour insist their early release scheme is only just the start.
But some campaigners within the criminal justice system seem buoyed by the arrival of James Timpson into government as prisons minister.
Ms Frake-Harris said it was a “stroke of genius” by the new prime minister, Sir Keir Starmer, to appoint him.
Others have pointed me to a comment Lord Timpson made in the past, where he claimed a third of prisoners were unnecessarily locked up.
It could point to bigger reform on sentencing for a Labour government – though officially, ministers say they are working on a 10-year strategy for prisons that is due to be completed shortly.