Andy Burnham has confirmed that six categories of offenders will be blocked from upcoming changes to prison terms, as the Labour government responds to a growing backlash against the early release prisoner scheme. The announcement was made on Sunday, August 30, ahead of the Prime Minister's return to Parliament this week.
Offences excluded from early release changes
The Makerfield MP, who succeeded Sir Keir Starmer in July, confirmed that the following offences will be excluded from any reduction in prison terms:
- unlawful killing
- historic child sex offences
- killing an emergency worker in the line of duty
- all forms of manslaughter
- death by dangerous driving
- causing or allowing the death of a child
Murderers and anyone deemed most dangerous by a court, who were handed a life or extended sentence, were already blocked from seeing any reduction and will remain in prison until they appear before a Parole Board.
Prime Minister's statement on the changes
Mr Burnham said: "I know how strongly people feel about this issue. I understand the concern and anger because I share it."
He added: "That’s why I took action during my first weeks as Prime Minister to block some of the very worst in society being released before they should. We moved quickly to block vile criminals who commit rape, sexually abuse children and groom vulnerable young people."
"But I always said I wanted to do more. We will now not only be keeping offenders serving time for indecent assault locked up, but also those in prison for manslaughter and death by dangerous driving. This means that the awful criminals responsible for the killing of PC Andrew Harper will not have their sentence shortened."
Supervision measures and next steps
Mr Burnham acknowledged the limits of the changes, stating: "The truth is I wanted to go even further. But I’ve pushed the system to the very limits of what’s possible without risking the prison system collapsing within months, putting the public at enormous risk."
To strengthen protections for victims, the government will introduce the toughest ever supervision measures for offenders. These measures effectively mean that an offender’s sentence will not end when they leave prison, and include tagging offenders and, for the first time ever, putting restriction zones in place to stop offenders getting anywhere near their victims.
