Justice secretary hits back at police in row over early jail release scheme

Shabana Mahmood has hit back at the UK's most senior police officer in a row over the impact of allowing thousands of criminals to serve their sentences in the community instead of being sent to jail.

- Rajeev Syal

The justice secretary's department insisted yesterday that officials had "consulted with police", including the Met's commissioner, Sir Mark Rowley, over proposed changes to sentencing policies introduced to ease prison overcrowding.

Hours earlier, Rowley had said that the scheme to free thousands of offenders early would "generate a lot of work for police" and claimed that the decision had been made "without any analysis of the impact on policing whatsoever".

Public servants are lobbying the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, as they anticipate budget cuts in the spending review on 11 June. Mahmood has said she must take drastic action to cut prison overcrowding or risk the collapse of the justice system.

Recommendations from David Gauke's sentencing review, which proposed less jail time for thousands of offenders, including some violent criminals and domestic abusers, were accepted in principle by Mahmood last week. These will allow prisoners in England and Wales to be eligible for release after serving a third of their sentence, drop short custodial sentences for nearly all offenders and allow suspended sentences for up to three years.