More than 60,000 criminals have been freed from jail early under Labour’s soft justice programme.
New figures from the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) showed 60,108 offenders were let out of prison onto the streets in the scheme’s first 16 months.
The astonishing number covered releases under a scheme – launched by then justice secretary Shabana Mahmood – which allows criminals to be freed after serving just 40 per cent of the sentence handed down by a court.
Early release data has now been published from the scheme’s launch in September 2024 to the end of December last year.
With releases averaging more than 3,700 a month in the most recent quarter it means the true figure to have been freed so far is likely to be about 75,000.
The scheme led to distasteful scenes of lags popping champagne corks outside prison gates, as some vowed to be life-long Labour voters as a result of being freed early.
Some freed inmates committed new offences within hours.
The programme was launched to free up space in jails in England and Wales, with Ms Mahmood claiming the justice system would grind to a halt if nothing was done.
Just under 1,500 serious criminals who were sentenced to more than a decade in jail have now been released early, the new data showed.
It said 490 of those freed so far had been handed sentences of 14 years or more, while 980 had been ordered to serve between 10 and 14 years.
Shadow Justice Secretary Nick Timothy said criminals were being ‘let out early as a deliberate political choice by a government too weak to build the prison places the country needs’.
People spray sparkling wine over a man who walked out of Nottingham Prison on September 10, 2024 – the day the early release scheme came into effect
He added: ‘Still Labour press ahead with plans to abolish jury trials, the cornerstone of British justice.
‘Releasing criminals early and stripping defendants of the right to be judged by their peers, that is Labour’s criminal justice record.
On the first day of Labour’s scheme in September 2024, lags released early were seen celebrating outside jails. Pictured: A man celebrates as he is released from HMP Wandsworth
‘What the British public wants and expects is more criminals being locked up for longer.
‘Prison works, but Labour are ideologically incapable of getting tough on crime.’
Labour passed new legislation earlier this year introducing permanent ‘soft justice’ changes to the way criminals are punished.
A former prisoner celebrates his early release with friends who picked him up in a Lamborghini
The Sentencing Act scraps most jail terms of under 12 months and allow most criminals to be freed after serving just 30 per cent of their sentence.
Criminals convicted of serious violence or sex offences would be freed after half their term, rather than the current three-quarters point.
Justice Secretary David Lammy and Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood at Labour party conference in Liverpool in September
After introducing the jails early release scheme Ms Mahmood was moved to the Home Office – where she is responsible for ensuring police are catching criminals, who are then let out of jail by her former department.
The early release scheme is now overseen by David Lammy, the Deputy Prime Minister and Justice Secretary.
In January the MOJ published an assessment which said jails would have run out of space as early as June this year if ministers had not introduced their current policies.
Labour’s sentencing reforms will slow the projected rise in the prison population by 7,500 by 2028, it said.
An MoJ spokesman said: ‘This government inherited prisons on the brink of collapse after just 500 net prison places were added in the 14 years before July 2024 which is why we took tough action to avoid this catastrophe and protect the public.
‘Now we are delivering the most ambitious prison building programme in over a century with 3,100 places already delivered, alongside new sentencing reforms to ensure it never happens again.’
