Victim watchdog ‘struggling to understand’ prisoner recall policy change, Sky News learns
The watchdog representing victims is “genuinely struggling to understand” government changes to prisoner recall release policy, expressing concern for “victim and wider public safety.”
In a letter to the Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood, shared exclusively with Sky News, Baroness Newlove has questioned why certain “sexual and violent” offenders have been “targeted for early release”.
The justice secretary on Wednesday announced that more criminals released from prison will only serve 28 more days in jail if they breach their licence conditions in an attempt to relieve pressure on overcrowded prisons.
On behalf of victims in England and Wales, Baroness Newlove raised a series of questions with the justice secretary, asking why criminals who may be deemed “an unacceptable risk to the public”, are being “re-released at a time when the probation service is already struggling to cope with the huge demands being placed upon it.”
In a hastily arranged news conference on Wednesday, the government announced the new measures for criminals who have been recalled to prison in England and Wales.
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The immediacy of the announcement prompted questions from MPs on Thursday as to whether those representing victims had been consulted about the changes.
It’s understood that the Victims Commissioner was not given advanced warning.
This is the first time Baroness Newlove has intervened over the early release policy, citing risk to public safety.
A letter from Baroness Newlove questioned why certain ‘sexual and violent’ offenders have been ‘targeted for early release’. File pic: PA
The measures mean that offenders originally serving one to four years who are recalled to prison for breaching their licenses will be released after 28 days.
Previously, this short-term recall was only available to those who were originally serving a 12-month sentence.
Anyone serving longer than that had to convince the parole board they were safe to leave, if they had been recalled. That often caused delays.
The change is designed to stop prisons getting clogged up with those recalled for minor breaches, such as missing appointments or failing to alert the probation service to a change in their address or circumstance.
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From December: ‘Overcrowding and understaffing’ in prisons
There are around 13,500 offenders in prison ‘on recall’, which amounts to 15% of the total prison population in England and Wales.
Only 25% of those recalled have committed further offences. Other recalls are because of non-compliance or breaching of licence conditions – like missing or not turning up to probation appointments.
Thousands of offenders will benefit from the new limits. It will exclude terrorists, and individuals considered by the prison and probation service to be high risk, those who commit further offences.
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The Domestic Abuse Commissioner, Nicole Jacobs, also raised expressed concern, telling the justice secretary in a separate letter the “consequences could be deadly.”
“The domestic abuse perpetrators within this cohort of offenders are some of the most dangerous – they are fixated on their victims, stopping at nothing to maintain control over them,” she said.
“This change will also put significant additional pressure on an already overwhelmed Probation Service, and I am deeply concerned for the knock-on impact that this will have on the safety of victims and survivors whose perpetrators are being managed in the community.”
One serving probation officer told Sky News the change “will create probation chaos”, adding it’s a “real threat to managing public safety”.
The measure will exclude many sexual offenders and domestic abusers, but not all.
Exclusion is based on the risk they pose, and there will be an opportunity for frontline workers to apply for additional licence conditions to manage concerns about an offender due to be released after 28 days.
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It’s understood that exclusions do not extend further than that because of the severity of the overcrowding situation, combined with the inability to exclude all domestic abusers because some can be charged with crimes such as GBH or ABH, meaning domestic abuse is not specifically the crime they were sentenced for.
The recall population has been growing for years, putting pressure on an overcrowded system.
Amy Rees, the interim permanent secretary at the Ministry of Justice, said any delay in enacting new emergency measures would become “intolerable”, meaning police could not make arrests.
The justice secretary said that male prisons were due to run out of space by November. The male estate is currently operating at around 99% capacity.
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Male prison capacity running at 99%
An independent review of sentencing policy is due to make recommendations to the government in coming days, with the aim of sending fewer people to prison.
It’s expected to suggest the scrapping of some short sentences and increasing the use of alternatives to prison custody for non-violent offenders.
A brother and sister have been jailed for the murder of a drug dealer in a “ferocious” knife attack.
Isaiah Marsh, 21, and his 23-year-old sibling Mya Marsh were sentenced to a minimum of 20 years in prison for killing Minister Enfrence, 21, in a row over a £200 cannabis debt.
Bank worker Mya was trying to buy drugs from Mr Enfrence in Kings Norton, Birmingham, when she met him armed with a kitchen knife at about 10am on 5 November, the city’s crown court heard.
Judge Simon Drew KC said that Mya was the aggressor in an initial confrontation with Mr Enfrence over the debt as he sentenced the siblings on Thursday.
Mya called her brother Isaiah to the scene, who “launched a ferocious attack on Minister as he lay defenceless on his back on the floor” and had intended to kill, the judge said.
Mr Enfrence suffered at least 12 stab wounds to his body, arms, hands and head in the “unprovoked” attack.
He did not die instantly and managed to escape before collapsing nearby.
Judge Drew said footage of the attack, which was caught on CCTV, was “truly sickening” to watch as Mr Enfrence died a “traumatic and painful death”.
Minister Enfrence was killed on 5 November. Pic: West Midlands Police
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The footage shows Mya passing a knife to her brother during the stabbing.
The judge told them: “This was an attack by two people on one. That attack was unprovoked. Members of the public, including a child in a pushchair, passed very close by while the attack was taking place.”
After the killing, Mya went to work “as if nothing had happened” after taking the morning off work, citing mental health problems, the court was told.
Isaiah later handed himself in to the police.
A jury unanimously convicted the siblings of murder on Monday following a three-week trial.
Both had denied murder and alternative charges of manslaughter.
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Isaiah claimed he acted in self-defence, while Mya claimed she did not believe her brother would use the knife to stab Mr Enfrence.
Rachel Brand KC, representing Mya, said the attack was “utterly out of character” for her client and that Mya had shouted “stop it” and “break it up” during her brother and Mr Enfrence’s struggle.
Isaiah, meanwhile, would find it “almost impossible to reconcile what he saw on the CCTV with who he is”, his barrister Michael Ivers KC told the court.
“He has told everyone who will listen when they have spoken to him that he is full of remorse about what happened,” Mr Ivers said.
Police investigating the torture and killing of a pair of kittens in west London have published CCTV pictures of two teenagers they want to speak to.
Warning: This article contains details some readers may find distressing
The Metropolitan Police were tipped off on 3 May that two teenagers had allegedly dismembered the animals at Ickenham Road, Ruislip.
No arrests have been made.
Officers released footage of a boy and a girl on Thursday and asked people to help identify them.
The boy is described by the Met as 5ft 6in (168cm) tall, with short dark hair. He was wearing a dark jacket with long sleeves, with blue jeans.
Police sergeant Babs Rock said the boy “was also seen carrying a black duffel bag, which sadly is thought to have contained the kittens”.
The two youths. Pic: Metropolitan Police/PA
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Sergeant Rock said the young girl was the same height as the boy, with long red hair.
“She was wearing a white top with black shorts. She was also carrying a purple jumper, which she later puts on to wear,” she said.
“If you know these two individuals then please come forward to us, we would like to speak with them as soon as possible.”
In the video, the pair are seen walking down a street and then later running back the way they came.
Sergeant Rock described it as “an incredibly distressing incident which I know has caused concern in the local community”.
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