“I’m gonna get lit” Thank you Keir.

What do you suggest the government does to help manage the crisis GG13?

The prison service has been a treated as a Cinderella Service by various Governments for successive years.

The scenes outside prisons yesterday must have been sickening for victims of crime.

The situation may not have been of PM’s making, but his former job in the CPS means he must have been acutely aware of it.

I hope his decision does not come back to bite him but my gut feeling is that it will.

Prisoners, many multiple offenders, nowhere to live, no job, inadequate support or time to put support in place, what on earth could go wrong ?

I think prisoners should be released in regular smaller numbers so not to overwhelm the support services. We need to give prisoners every chance to make a success of leaving prison.

Sago

Casdon

www.statista.com/statistics/872023/leading-nationalities-of-foreign-prisoners-in-england-and-wales/
Here’s the dataset of where foreign prisoners are from.
I presume they are in prison in the UK because their crimes were committed here, I’m no expert but I’d assume that a criminal is only returned to their country of origin if that country requests for them to be extradited, rather than as a routine? There must be a lot of British nationals, who have committed crimes overseas, in foreign prisons too - does anybody know more about this?

The link is paywalled.

You can see the front page, which is what I referenced, for free? It’s only paywalled if you want to view additional pages.

LizzieDrip

I think it’s very clear now why Sunak called the GE in July, when the Tories were 20 points behind in the polls, rather than waiting until autumn, as expected. He knew all this sh** was just around the corner … let Labour try to sort it and pick up all the flack!

Of course you are correct LizzieDrip. It was obvious that the Rwanda idea was dead in the water along with all the cost involved. It was obvious they knew about the need to try to plug the massive hole in the economy. Why do you think they repeated the claims that Labour would be imposing higher taxes plus the need to sort out the doctors and train drivers whose claims had hung in limbo by the Tories.
To read some posts you would think the Labour Party caused those sickening riots. I am sure that had Sir Keir Starmer not acted so promptly and with such vigour there would have been more of the same and the whole thing would have been unstoppable. It is the far right who ignited the disgusting scenes we saw and the long sentences were given out to those who had no regard for the lives of others and had a series of previous convictions. The fact that the prisons are at breaking point is the responsibility of previous governments. So other prisoners have had an earlier release but surely Starmer should be congratulated on his actions despite all the difficulties he faced.

Indigo8

As always, Conservative GNs say that Starmer is in the wrong and is messing up. While lefty GNs say he inherited terrible problems created by 14 years of Tory misrule and is doing his best to begin to tackle the numerous serious issues he has
inherited.

Whatever you believe, you will see the situation in a way that suits your prejudices.

Oh my goodness. Absolutely this

Prisons have struggled for years. Tony Blair released thousands as well.

One of the young men released today was picked up in a rather beautiful 200k Lamborghini

As always, Conservative GNs say that Starmer is in the wrong and is messing up. While lefty GNs say he inherited terrible problems created by 14 years of Tory misrule and is doing his best to begin to tackle the numerous serious issues he has
inherited.

Whatever you believe, you will see the situation in a way that suits your prejudices.

They are being released after serving 40% instead of 50% of their sentences. In some cases this means just a few weeks early. There was little option and it is not violent offenders. Nobody panic!

Thanks flappergirl. I’m stunned that so many are criticising the current government despite the fact it’s been common knowledge increasing over the last 14 years that the prisons are full, criminal justice system overwhelmed etc etc
In the early 1980’s we had about 40,000 prisoners, now over 80,000. The riots meant some offenders met the standard to get prison sentences. Space had to be found
It’s obvious the depleted Probation Service havent to time to asses needs, find housing for the prisoners being released. Many of them will be recidivists, the prisoners who keep our prisons full.
Blame those responsible, nit the government with onky several weeks in power, facing insurmountable hurdled

I am no fan of Starmer but this is really not his fault.

Desdemona

I really can't believe all the horrible things that have been happening since Labour got in.

It was terrible before, but I can't help thinking it is now worse!

Absolutely

Some people seem to have very short memories!

The prison situation was at crisis point long before Labour took power. Experts in the field had been warning for years that the state of our current prisons was totally unacceptable because they were bursting at the seams, massively under-staffed and merely a training ground for novice prisoners. The Conservative government did nothing. Their mantra of cuts, cuts, cuts in every possible department, has yielded a country whose public services have been cut to the bone, with all the attendant problems that this has brought about.

Starmer has been in power for just a few weeks and already people are expecting him, in the blink of an eye, to put right 14 years of neglect, incompetence and corruption.

The prisons are overcrowded thanks to 14 years of Tory misrule. They promised new prisons and were warned by Police Chiefs that the situation was at breaking point, but they chose to ignore it. Their answer was not to imprison people that should be. So, the result is that more criminals have left Court with suspended sentences or community orders than ever before. The Tories had also planned exactly the same early release system as Labour.

If you're worried about the early release scheme, you should be even more worried about the criminals walking the streets who were given those suspended sentences under the Tories rather than being locked up.

It absolutely astounds me that some posters seem oblivious to the fact that prisons have been poised to explode for years. That the Tories reneged on their pledge to build more prisons. That thousands of criminals have been given suspended sentences and leave Court smirking their heads off. That Rishi Sunak received the direst warning about the situation and did nothing and that if the Tories had returned to power they would have implement the early release scheme. How can anyone not know any of this?

This piece gives a lot of information on foreign prisoners.

lordslibrary.parliament.uk/foreign-national-offenders-in-uk-prisons-powers-to-deport/#heading-3

Casdon

www.statista.com/statistics/872023/leading-nationalities-of-foreign-prisoners-in-england-and-wales/
Here’s the dataset of where foreign prisoners are from.
I presume they are in prison in the UK because their crimes were committed here, I’m no expert but I’d assume that a criminal is only returned to their country of origin if that country requests for them to be extradited, rather than as a routine? There must be a lot of British nationals, who have committed crimes overseas, in foreign prisons too - does anybody know more about this?

The link is paywalled.

www.statista.com/statistics/872023/leading-nationalities-of-foreign-prisoners-in-england-and-wales/
Here’s the dataset of where foreign prisoners are from.
I presume they are in prison in the UK because their crimes were committed here, I’m no expert but I’d assume that a criminal is only returned to their country of origin if that country requests for them to be extradited, rather than as a routine? There must be a lot of British nationals, who have committed crimes overseas, in foreign prisons too - does anybody know more about this?

GrannyGravy13

I wonder why they didn’t start with deporting any foreign nationals that are in U.K. prisons?

I suspect its because some would face danger if they were deported to there own country.

I think it’s very clear now why Sunak called the GE in July, when the Tories were 20 points behind in the polls, rather than waiting until autumn, as expected. He knew all this sh** was just around the corner … let Labour try to sort it and pick up all the flack!

GrannyGravy13 because they don’t have any sense… but logical to me and you😱

I wonder why they didn’t start with deporting any foreign nationals that are in U.K. prisons?

The Tories planned to do it too but they left the mess for Labour to sort out (and not just prisons).

In a letter on 27 June, police chiefs also urged Sunak to take “immediate action to begin to address this crisis and mitigate its worse impacts”

Sunak chose to ignore advice.

escaped

If that's the most exciting thing these released prisoners can think of doing, then Heaven help us all. I agree there'll be worse to come.

Much, much worse to come as sure as eggs is eggs.

Release the prisoners early to ease the pressure on prison staff etc. This will just increase pressure on probation staff, council staff and police. An ill conceived plan.