The Ministry of Justice said ‘public safety will always be out priority’ amid concerns over additional strains on stable housing as well as police and probation services
The Government recently announced changes to prison release arrangements through the Sentencing Act 2026 (stock photo)(Image: Getty Images)
Non-local ex-prisoners must not be ‘dumped’ in the Humber area when released early through a government scheme, the region’s Deputy Police and Crime Commissioner has said. Concerns have been raised that early releases put additional pressure on an already over-stretched housing supply as well as on probation services.
“I am against any attempts to dump non-local ex-offenders in our communities,” said Leo Hammond, who is also a Conservative councillor for the Wolds Weighton ward on East Riding Of Yorkshire Council.
“It is in the public interest for people released from prison to be in stable accommodation after release as they are 80 per cent less likely to re-offend if they are, which ultimately keeps society safer and reduces cost on the public purse,” he added.
“While we have a large prisoner population in East Yorkshire and the wider county, the majority of these prisoners do not come from the local community. The ones which do will be released back into our area and, therefore, need to be handled by our local services. The majority will most likely go back to where they call home. This means we have to properly resource the whole criminal justice system.”
The Government recently announced changes to prison release arrangements through the Sentencing Act 2026, which are set to come into effect in October. They are intended to help ensure there is enough space in prisons, while making sure there is tough supervision of offenders when they are released to keep victims and the wider public safe.
However, the changes have led to concerns that justice is not being served and too many offenders are set to be released from prison early. It could also mean further strain on essential frontline services in Hull and East Yorkshire, in particular probation services and police officers.
Hull and East Riding is home to four prisons: HMP Hull, a Category B Victorian prison in the east of the city; HMP Humber, a Category C men’s resettlement prison near Brough; HMP Full Sutton, a maximum-security prison near Pocklington; and HMP Millsike, which opened last year.
It is not clear how many prisoners in the local area will be released early. Cllr Hammond explained: “We have not yet had figures from the probation service due to the recent review of the policy for early releases. We have asked for figures and will be informed once they are available. The important part of this information for local services, such as the police and councils, is how many of those to be released will be staying locally.”
The early release scheme could increase the strain on local police and probation services. Cllr Hammond said: “In my opinion it is highly likely to increase work for both our local police force and local probation service. But we will not know exactly how much work until we know the numbers. The fundamental issue here is over the last 30 years successive governments, both Conservative and Labour, have increased prison sentences to be tough on crime. That of course is no bad thing – we should be tough on crime.
“However, what they failed to do until recently, was recognise that by increasing the length of time someone goes to prison for, you reduce the capacity in prisons. The same number of people go in, but the same number do not come out as quickly, leading to this situation of overcrowding.”
Cllr Hammond explained more needed to be done to ensure justice was truly being served and an additional £10 million is being put into Victim Support. “But the government would not need to be spending an additional £10 million of taxpayer money on supporting victims affected by these early releases if they were not letting people out of prison early. I would rather they use the money to actually keep offenders in prison for their full sentence – that’s justice,” he said.
The Government has recently announced more detail on its new ‘Progression Model’ for releasing prisoners. It applies to those serving a Standard Determinate Sentence, which is a fixed-term prison sentence. The new model changes the amount of time offenders spend in prison before entering intensive supervision in the community. The changes do not apply to offenders serving the most serious sentences, but victims of crime remain concerned about the pace of change.
‘People are very worried’
Ian Carson, a former prison officer and Prison Officers’ Association area representative for Yorkshire and the North East, said: “Clearly people are very worried about this early release scheme, after all the ultimate basis of democratic society is a functioning justice system. The early release scheme shows a lack of joined-up thinking and calls into question the decision-making process of policy-makers.”
He said, instead of releasing prisoners early, more short-term capacity could be created in temporary units on existing prison grounds and the tried and tested process of ‘doubling up’ cells could mean each prison could increase their capacity too.
Mr Carson explained: “When I was working in the prison service in the 1990s, the Conservative government successfully increased prison capacity through doubling up and it didn’t cause the chaos some said it would. There’s too much scaremongering. Of course, it’s a less comfortable experience for prisoners but for many people we don’t expect comfort to be the priority for prisoners. The priority for local people has to be a functioning justice system.”
A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said: “Public safety will always be our priority. We are fast-tracking a plan to keep more of the most serious offenders behind bars, on top of murderers, anyone on life sentences and those in prison for rape, serious child sexual abuse and grooming offences who are already blocked from any changes.
“We share the public’s anger that these options are even being considered, after we inherited a prison system on the brink of collapse. We are fixing this by building 14,000 new prison places, expanding electronic tagging on an unprecedented scale, and investing in probation services at record levels. We are also exploring how we can go further, including faster deportation of foreign criminals, better use of the women’s estate and reviewing the unjust IPP sentences.”
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