Sentencing plans 'devastating' for abuse victims, says commissioner

Violent partners will be allowed to "return to harassing, stalking and abusing" with impunity under a bill before parliament that is supposed to ease prison overcrowding, a watchdog has warned.

- Rajeev Syal Home affairs editor

Violent partners will be allowed to "return to harassing, stalking and abusing" with impunity under a bill before parliament that is supposed to ease prison overcrowding, a watchdog has warned.

In a letter to the justice secretary, David Lammy, the domestic abuse commissioner, Dame Nicole Jacobs, said the sentencing bill's aim to release the vast majority of offenders recalled to prison after 56 days would mean that victims and survivors "will be put in harm's way" and lead to "devastating consequences".

The letter, shared with the Guardian, comes as ministers face unprecedented pressure to use the bill, which is at its second reading in the House of Lords, to free space in England and Wales's jails and ease pressure on the creaking criminal justice system.

Jacobs called on Lammy to amend the bill so that domestic abuse perpetrators who contact their victims go through new risk assessment checks instead of being automatically released after seven weeks.