It is expected that the new Labour government will announce their plans tomorrow to release prisoners early to prevent prisons from becoming full. This comes as Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, has said the situation with prisons is ‘shocking’ and ‘worse’ than he thought.

The Prime Minister announced a potential prison reform plan that would release inmates after serving 40% of their sentence to address the issue of prison overcrowding. The early release scheme would apply only to prisoners  who have served between 40% and 43% of their sentence.

The government has sought to reassure that prisoners who have committed violent and sexual offences will be exempt from early release. However, the Guardian reports that ministers are still considering whether the scheme can exclude domestic abusers.

Earlier this week, the Guardian reported on concerns about the early release scheme from the charity Refuge, which noted that the previous government had released several people jailed for domestic abuse. Charlie Taylor, the Chief Inspector of Prisons, referred to a ‘high risk’ inmate at HMP Lewes who posed a danger to children had his release date brought forward despite a violent history of domestic abuse.

Refuge emphasized that women must be reassured by ministers that such mistakes, like those mentioned above will not be repeated. A spokesperson from Refuge said ‘When considering options…we need assurances from the government that those convicted of violence against women and girls offences will be exempt from this scheme’.

The Labour Party promised to tackle domestic violence, necessitating careful consideration in releasing prisoners convicted of domestic abuse. In a letter to the Prime Minister, Nicole Jacobs, the domestic abuse commissioner, argued that domestic abusers should be exempted, while calling for long-term planning. Jacobs advised the government to consider that this crisis is occurring when just one in five victims of domestic abuse report to the police, and just 5% of police recorded domestic abuse results in a conviction.

In March, the previous government had announced plans to release prisoners early to ease overcrowding in prisons. Former Justice Secretary Alex Chalk said plans to release prisoners after 40% of their sentence were shelved due to fears of lack of support in parliament.

Mr Chalk said he wouldn’t go into details of behind-closed-doors discussions but added ‘It is reasonable to say there were a variety of views about what could be got through Parliament.’