Ministers accused of making ‘rookie mistakes’ in early release after released prisoner allegedly committed assault

Shadow Home Secretary James Cleverly has raised concerns about the Government's early release programme after an inmate was accused of sexually assaulting a woman on the day of his release.

To address the overcrowding crisis in prisons in England and Wales, around 1,750 inmates were released early from prisons in England and Wales on Tuesday.

But it subsequently emerged that an inmate was charged with assaulting a woman on the day of his release. He has since been charged and returned to prison ahead of a court date.

Appearing on Sky News' Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips, Mr Cleverly said the Tory party had not taken the same measures to tackle the rising prison population.

He said: “We have seen this with the winter heating subsidy and the prisoner release programme. These are rookie mistakes by an arrogant and inexperienced government.”

He added: “The authorities presented the clear and unambiguous answer they wanted and we could see that it was wrong. And again this naive and inexperienced government fell for it.”

“And now we're seeing the consequences with sex offenders, where domestic violence offenders, career criminals are being released in large numbers, and that has proven to be a mistake, which is why we said no.”

The alleged incident involving the released prisoner has also alarmed a leading figure in science.

Dr Hannah Bows, Professor of Criminal Law, said The Independent: “[There are] broader issues with the rehabilitation and risk assessment of offenders. Whether we release a little earlier or on time, we need to ask big questions about what exactly we are doing to prevent violence against women.”

Dr Bows, deputy director of the Centre for Research on Violence and Abuse at Durham University, argues that simply “locking up men does not solve the wider problem of violence against women and girls”.

“Offenders should serve the appropriate sentence for the appropriate length of time, but what we do with that time is critical to preventing recidivism and right now we are failing both victims and offenders,” she added.

Downing Street said hundreds of prisoners needed to be released early to prevent “rampant crime” as the criminal justice system cannot put lawbreakers in prison.

The new regulation will temporarily reduce the proportion of prison sentences that some prisoners must serve behind bars from 50 to 40 percent. Terrorists and sex offenders are exempt from this and will not be released early.

Those eligible for release under this program include inmates serving sentences of less than four years for violent crimes, including manslaughter.

Alan Collins, a lawyer representing victims of sexual abuse, said: “It is very likely that those who probably should not have been released would reoffend. It was certainly not impossible that a person would have chosen a different strategy.”

Beginning of the week The Independent reported on concerns that perpetrators of domestic violence could “slip through the net” of the government’s early release program, putting victims at great risk.

A Justice Ministry spokesman said: “The government has inherited prisons that are in crisis and on the verge of collapse. If that had happened, the courts would not have been able to hold trials and the police would not have been able to make arrests.”

“We had no choice but to take emergency measures and Prisoners a few weeks or months earlier, excludes a number of criminal offences and prescribes strict licensing conditions.

“While we cannot comment on the details of individual cases, anyone who violates the license conditions or commits other crimes will be punished.”