Burnham bars rapists and child sex offenders from early release, orders review of indefinite jail terms

Scheme tightened after backlash

Prime Minister Andy Burnham has announced that prisoners convicted of rape, serious child sexual offences and grooming will be excluded from the government's early release scheme. The move follows intense pressure from MPs, victims, campaigners and frontline prison officers. The scheme, originally set to begin in September, will now start in October. Justice Secretary Alex Norris told Sky News that about 5,000 prisoners would be released over 10 months, down from the original plan for 6,000.

I fully understand the anger, anxiety and distress that's been caused. I've heard that loud and clear. That's why we're making significant changes: offenders who have been sentenced for rape, serious child sex offences and other grooming offences will be excluded from the changes.

PC Harper's killers remain eligible

Despite the exclusions, two men jailed for the manslaughter of police officer Andrew Harper remain eligible for early release. Henry Long, the main perpetrator, will not be subject to early release, but Jessie Cole and Albert Bowers, who were jailed for 13 years in 2020, could still be freed at the halfway point of their sentence. PC Harper, 28, sustained fatal injuries while responding to a quad bike theft in Sulhamstead, Berkshire, in August 2019.

The level of disrespect the Government are showing to Andrew and other victims - and to their loved ones such as me - is beyond contempt.

Harper's mother, Debbie Adlam, told BBC Newsnight that her family was "paying the price" after learning her son's killers remained eligible.

Domestic abuse perpetrators not excluded

Domestic Abuse Commissioner Dame Nicole Jacobs criticised the decision for not excluding domestic abuse perpetrators from the scheme. She said the move was "wrong" and "puts victims' lives at risk". Andrea Simon, the London victim's commissioner, said the failure was concerning given a shortage of probation officers with experience of handling complex offenders.

As I told the lord chancellor just last week, the danger perpetrators pose to their victim should not be underestimated. These are individuals who are fixated on their victim and will stop at nothing to control and cause harm.

Prison capacity crisis

Burnham said he "wanted to go even further" on barring more offenders but that doing so would risk the collapse of the entire prison system. Norris told Sky News that blocking more prisoners would have caused the prison system to "break down". Adult male prisons were operating at 98 per cent capacity, Burnham wrote in The Telegraph. The prison network came within days of collapse on multiple occasions in 2023 and 2024, according to an independent review last year. Burnham said his government would oversee "the fastest prison-building programme since the Victorian era", creating 14,000 new prison places by 2031. An extra £10 million will go to frontline victim support services, including a new national helpline.

IPP sentences under review

Burnham also announced that he has asked Justice Secretary Alex Norris to review Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) sentences. The controversial open-ended punishments were scrapped in 2012 but not retrospectively, leaving thousands in prison without a release date for years beyond their tariff. Last week, the United Nations Human Rights Council's Working Group on Arbitrary Detention condemned the detention of UK prisoners on indefinite jail terms as "arbitrary" and accused the British government of presiding over a form of psychological torture, describing the terms as "inhumane treatment" due to the "mental anguish" caused.

Pressure on Scotland

John Swinney's SNP government is under pressure to follow Burnham and exclude violent rapists from its own early prisoner release scheme. SNP Justice Secretary Neil Gray announced plans in June for prisoners including violent and sexual offenders to be automatically released after serving two-thirds of their sentence. Rape Crisis Scotland chief executive Alev Taylor said rapists and sexual offenders "should always be excluded from early release plans". Victim Support Scotland's Carol Eden warned that "exclusions for sexual offences and domestic abuse are worryingly absent" from the SNP's plans.