Crisis-hit probation service not ready for early releases

The head of the UK's probation watchdog has warned that the service is failing in 97 per cent of areas, even before the government releases thousands of prisoners early. Martin Jones, the chief inspector of probation, said the service was already struggling to cope with supervising and managing the number of prisoners currently released on licence.

- AMY-CLARE MARTIN, DAVID MADDOX, ANDY GREGORY

The government is preparing early release of thousands of inmates who have served as little as 40 per cent of their sentence because of a prison overcrowding crisis in England and Wales. Prime minister Sir Keir Starmer has warned that the situation in prisons "was worse than we thought" after Labour examined the full extent of the issues once it won the election.

There are concerns that potentially dangerous criminals will be released early in the scheme, putting the onus on the probation service to ensure they are monitored. But Mr Jones warned that new recruits promised by the new Labour government to help shore up the service will not be ready in time for the early release system's introduction in the autumn.

On Thursday, the new justice secretary Shabana Mahmood revealed that 5,500 prisoners would be released early across September and October as part of a scheme set to last at least 18 months. Ms Mahmood pledged to employ an extra 1,000 probation staff to help manage the newly released offenders in the community and said she aims to have the new staff in place by next spring.

However, Mr Jones warned it will take time for new recruits to "bed down" and gain vital experience as they join a service which is already chronically overstretched.

In a new podcast interview, where he also backed calls for prisoners serving abolished indeterminate imprisonment for public protection (IPP) jail terms to be resentenced, he said: "Clearly, you cannot run out of prison places. The challenge, I think, is what does that mean for the probation service?

"Our recent reports have found that around 97 per cent of probation areas are falling short of what we would expect from them in relation to the supervision and management of offenders. My question is, as you move people from prisons into the community, is that going to work effectively? Do they have the resources in place? Are they prioritising the right areas?