Prison overcrowding crisis limits ability to cut early releases, minister says

A prison capacity crisis would be likely if fewer prisoners were allowed early release, Justice Secretary Alex Norris has warned, as the government announced revised plans to tackle overcrowding.

Prisoners who committed rape, grooming, and serious child sex offences will be excluded from an early release scheme for England and Wales.

But the mother of PC Andrew Harper told the BBC she was "devastated" to learn that two men who were jailed for manslaughter after her son was killed will still be eligible to have their sentences cut short.

Prime Minister Andy Burnham said he "wanted to go even further", but that would not be possible without the prison system collapsing and putting the public "at much greater risk".

PC Harper, 28, was killed in 2019 when he was dragged by a car down a country road as three teenagers fled the scene of a quad bike theft in Berkshire.

His family previously said they had received a letter from the Ministry of Justice confirming that two of the offenders who killed the officer could be included in the early release scheme.

The driver of the vehicle, Henry Long, received a 16-year sentence and would not have been eligible.

Jessie Cole and Albert Bowers, who were passengers in the car and sentenced to 13 years for manslaughter after a trial at the Old Bailey in 2020, would become eligible for release after serving half of their sentences.

Last month, Prime Minister Andy Burnham promised to "review the policy" but PC Harper's mother Debbie Adlam, told BBC Newsnight: "It feels like we're letting Andrew down again" to hear his killer's might still be eligible for release.

"We've been through the justice system, we thought we'd done as best as we could.

"Now we're standing up to fight again... so I just feel really let down, for Andrew's sake as well as ours."

She added that Justice Secretary Alex Norris had called her to explain the situation and apologise.

Later, on BBC Breakfast, Adlam called for more support from the probation service, stressing: "I need to know at the very, very least if they are going to be released that we're kept in mind of what's happening and we are informed".

PC Andrew Harper was killed in 2019 when he was dragged by a car down a country road

The justice secretary said 5,000 extra releases - on top of the 4,500 prisoners who typically leave prison each month - will take place in 10 batches from October.

But the Prison Governors' Association (PGA) said in a statement it was "unclear" how many prisoners will have their sentences recalculated.

"We don't know if it is tens, hundreds or thousands