Thousands of British prisoners will be released under new Labour plans, Keir Starmer hints
Keir Starmer hinted he is ready to let thousands of prisoners out after finding the jails are in a worse state than expected.
The Prime Minister accused the Tories of being “reckless” by allowing the situation to get so bad.
Prisons in England and Wales are almost at total capacity with only around 1,400 spaces of the 88,864 available in England and Wales.
The previous Government allowed some inmates could be released from jail up to 70 days early, to free up prison cells, but concerns have been raised that dangerous criminals could end up being eligible.
Officials insist offenders will continue to be supervised under strict conditions.
The Ministry of Justice is already building six new prisons to create an extra 20,000 places, with 6,000 spaces have been created already.
Sir Keir has not said yet if he will continue with the programme as it is.
The PM said an announcement on the prisons crisis will be made soon.
He said: “Some of what we've found is shocking, not so much about the finances, but I have to say on prisons.
“The situation is worse than I thought it was. I'm pretty shocked that it's been allowed to get into that situation.
“It's reckless to allow them to get into that place. We'll be saying more about that in short order.”
