A man released from prison under a drive by the UK’s Labour government to empty the jails is alleged to have gone on to kill once free.
The male, who has not been identified, has been charged with murder over a killing in London. The alleged murder took place after the man was released from prison.
He is reported to have previously been in prison for a knife crime related offence but was released early under an initiative launched by the UK’s Labour government in the first days of it taking power last year.
As with all the decisions it has taken, the government blamed its predecessor for having left it to inherit a broken system. The scheme to tackle prison crowding by simply releasing inmates earlier was pushed through by then Justice Minister Shabana Mahmood, who is now the Home Secretary, one of the most senior roles in government and responsible for policing.
The Times cites shadow justice minister Robert Jenrick, who criticised the situation and the policy that may have allowed it to emerge: “Since taking office Labour have let out 38,000 prisoners early, many of whom are hardened offenders who simply cannot be rehabilitated. It’s putting the British people at risk every day.
“It doesn’t have to be like this. The answer is to deport the record number of foreign nationals clogging up our jails and get the courts sitting round the clock to reduce the number of people in prison on remand.”
Breitbart reported on the early release programme when it began, with 1,700 convicts being set free in one day. It was noted then:
…justice experts question the wisdom of the move. Speaking to the UK state broadcaster the BBC on Tuesday morning Martin Jones, chief inspector of probation, said offenders released are “almost bound” to be back in jail “within days or weeks” because “things will go wrong in the community”.
He remarked further: “Around about a third of people released from prison each year will be proven to have committed a further offence within a year… And then, of course, there’s a small risk that some of those offences will be serious, and whilst rare, that risk cannot be eliminated.” Meanwhile, chief inspector of prisons Charlie Taylor said that it is “inevitable” some of these ex-convicts would use their new-found freedom to commit more crimes…
