Robert Jenrick has called for the Government to apologise for releasing prisoners early as the newly-appointed shadow justice secretary said the only group Labour has increased its popularity with is criminals.
On his first outing in his role since being appointed by his former leadership opponent Kemi Badenoch on Monday, Mr Jenrick asked the Government to detail the number of sex offenders and domestic abusers that had been let out of prison under its early release scheme.
He said: “Can I belatedly congratulate the front bench on their appointments? I’ve been a little busy over the summer. But during that time the only group this Labour Government’s popularity has increased with is criminals.
“How many domestic abusers and sex offenders who were released under their early release scheme have gone on to reoffend? And would they like to apologise to the victims?”
A total of 37 prisoners were wrongly freed during the first tranche of the scheme in September, as they had been convicted under an outdated law for breaching restraining orders.
This included one man who has been charged with committing a sexual offence within hours of being let out of prison.
The Government’s scheme was introduced to create space inside jails in England and Wales as they reached capacity.
A further 1,100 prisoners were released last month in the second wave of the programme.
Criminals, who have been sentenced to five years or more in prison, are eligible after serving 40% their term in jail. They are then released on licence. Those convicted of serious violence, sexual offences and terrorism are exempt.
Justice minister Alex Davies-Jones (Pontypridd) said: “Well, I was going to congratulate (Mr Jenrick) in his new role, but he seems to have a very short memory, and I believe it is he who should be apologising to the country as a whole, on behalf of his government’s woeful, absolute misabuse of our justice system and our prisons.
The only group this Labour Government’s popularity has increased with is criminals
“Under the previous government’s ECSL (end of custody supervised licence) scheme, there were zero exemptions that would protect the public. This Government put in serious exemptions to prevent sex offenders being released onto our streets, preventing those with serious violent crimes being released onto our streets.
“I believe (Mr Jenrick) should maybe have a bit of humility.”
The Commons heard 98% of tagging visits to prisoners who were released under the second tranche of the scheme had been successfully completed.
“I can confirm after daily, indeed many times a day monitoring by the (Justice) Department, the performance of Serco on tagging has improved significantly,” Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood (Birmingham Ladywood) said.
Ms Mahmood added rates for recall for prisoners freed under the scheme are similar to rates of recall for others. Figures will be published after Christmas, MPs were told.
Ms Davies-Jones later said Labour was the “party of law and order” after Mr Jenrick argued the Government should be building more prisons.
Mr Jenrick (Newark) said: “There were exemptions in the previous government’s scheme, but the key thing is we need to get on and build more prisons. Prison works and we need to see more prisons being built.
“The last Conservative government built more prison places than any prior Labour government in living memory, but we clearly need to go further. What funding has the Lord Chancellor secured to build prisons over and above those that were secured by the previous government?
“And does she agree with her other junior minister, that fewer people should be sent to prison?”
Ms Davies-Jones replied: “Again, I think (Mr Jenrick) forgets who was in power for the last 14 years and who failed to build any prison places. Just 500 extra prison places were built under his government’s watch.
“This Government has achieved a record £1.2 billion in prison building amount of allocation from the Budget and we will be going further – we are the party of law and order.”
Ms Mahmood announced the Government has deported more than 1,500 foreign criminals since it took office in July. She said she agreed with the public that there are “too many” foreign nationals in British jails.
Conservative backbencher Wendy Morton (Aldridge-Brownhills) had said foreign national offenders (FNOs) accounted for 12% of the prison population.
She said: “What specific action is the Justice Secretary taking to remove FNOs from our prisons and return them to their prisons, including the use of the prisoner transfer agreements that were in place by the previous government?”
Ms Mahmood said: “I share the public’s view that there are far too many foreign national offenders (FNOs) in our prisons. Since coming into office we have returned more than 1,500 foreign offenders and I am pleased to say that we are currently on track to remove more foreign offenders this year than at any time in recent years.”
