More than a thousand prisoners will be released early in England and Wales to ease serious overcrowding in prisons. This was announced by the British Minister of Justice, quoted by the BBC, reports News.bg.
According to the new measure, people with sentences between one and four years who were returned to prison for violating the terms of their probation - such as not observing the curfew - will be released after 28 days of detention.
Minister Shabana Mahmood indicated that the government plans to invest 4.7 billion pounds in the construction of new prisons. However, she acknowledged that there was no quick fix to the crisis.
Just a week earlier, the prisons minister had said there would be no new emergency releases. The current measure, which affects around 1,400 prisoners, was intended to buy time while a sustainable solution was found.
The changes would not apply to those convicted of serious crimes.
The chairman of the Prison Officers Association, Mark Fairhurst, said building new prisons would not solve the problem in the long term. He said the money should be spent on modernising existing buildings, improving the probation service, providing beds for the mentally ill and introducing alternative sentencing options that the public trust.