Prisoners to be released after serving a third of sentence 'if they behave'

Prisoners will be released after a third of their sentence if they behave well in jail, under radical proposals to be published this week.

- Rachel Sylvester

David Gauke, the chair of the independent sentencing review, said the reforms would lead to a prison population that is 9,500 lower than it would otherwise have been, a reduction of more than 10%. “There is clearly going to be political opposition but there isn’t an alternative to substantial reform,” he told The Observer.

“We are already in a position where prisons are essentially full. With projections of the prison population rising by 3,000 a year, you can’t build quickly enough.”