Photograph by Ben Scicluna
Justice Secretary Chris Grayling has announced government plans to deny automatic early release from jail those sentenced for crimes such as child rape and some terror offences.
Under the current rules, defined in 2003, most prisoners serving fixed-time sentences are eligible for conditional release after they have served half of the prescribed sentence. Those current convicted of the most serious crimes half to serve two thirds of their sentence, known as an extended determinate sentence (EDS), before being released on license.
Under the proposed rules, those currently facing EDS for the most serious crimes, as well as those convicted for child rape or some terror offences, such as organising a terror organisation or inciting terrorism overseas, would no longer be eligible for automatic early release in England and Wales. Instead, these prisoners would have to go before a parole board who would need to sign off that the prisoner is no longer a threat to society before they could be freed.
This change is expected to affect around 600 prisoners each year.
Discussing the proposals, Grayling said:
It’s outrageous that offenders who commit some truly horrific crimes in this country are automatically released from prison halfway through their custodial sentence, regardless of their behaviour, attitude and engagement in their own rehabilitation.
This Government is on the side of people who play by the rules and want to get on. We need to teach criminals a lesson; you will be punished for your crime and you must earn your release, it is not an automatic right.
