Prisoners welcome early release – but some fear being sent straight back to jail

Prisoners have welcomed their early release but some fear it won’t be long before they’re back behind bars.

Around 1,750 people were expected to be let out on Tuesday in a bid to ease overcrowding amid warnings the scheme could be “risky” and it is “inevitable” some will reoffend.

The government has said the policy to free prisoners before they have served half of their sentences had to be brought in to avoid a “total collapse of the criminal justice system”.

Outside Brixton prison, in south London, a 26-year-old man, released after serving 17 months, or 40%, of his sentence for grievous bodily harm, said he hopes to find work having completed a painting and decorating course on the inside.

“You have to rehabilitate yourself in there. I did that,” the man, who didn’t want to be named, told Sky News.

“You’ve got to try to use all the things you can in there to better yourself, but you don’t get encouraged to, necessarily, and a lot of the time in there bad behaviour gets encouraged.”

Others coming out of the Category C prison were less optimistic about their prospects on the outside.

Damian Jones, 40, said he was “happy” to be freed after serving five months of his one-year sentence for actual bodily harm.

‘Could be risky’

But he agreed it “could be risky” to release violent offenders early and believes the conditions of his release, such as an alcohol tag, will see him being recalled to prison.

“I just feel like I’ll come straight back, to be honest with you, because they’ve hit me with all these conditions,” he said.

“I don’t think I’ll reoffend in terms of committing crime but getting recalled, 99% yeah.”

Like others being released, he complained of the overcrowding, with every cell full, and conditions inside the prison, including bits falling off the wall, broken toilets and thin mattresses.

‘It doesn’t work’

Mark Burke, 52, from Dublin, said he has been “in and out of prison” and “it doesn’t work”.

He said he was a “bit anxious” as he was released about three months into his 32-week sentence for shoplifting “high-value goods”.

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Burke said some prisoners are deliberately committing acts of violence behind bars to get put in a single cell but praised the drug-free wing, which he said had helped him.

“Will I be back? I hope not, but you can’t say, can you?” he said.

‘They’re just going to reoffend’

For many, finding somewhere to live is also a concern and crucial to staying out of trouble.

One woman being released from Send prison, in Surrey, told Sky’s Molly Malone: “Obviously I’m grateful to get out early, but I was worried about housing, more than anything. And that’s still a concern for me today as I leave the prison.”

She said she doesn’t have anywhere to live because she’s leaving earlier than planned and the accommodation that had been in place for her isn’t available.

She said she’s turned her life around, from a drug addict to drug worker, but is worried about her prospects without a stable home.

“People in prison, if they’re not housed, they’re just going to reoffend,” she said. “Then it’s going to be the same thing over and over.”