Labour’s early release scheme poses an ‘existential risk’ to the probation service, its union boss has warned.
Ben Cockburn, chair of the National Association of Probation Officers (Napo), has said the Government’s vow to keep the public safe while freeing thousands of inmates was ‘just not credible’.
He also revealed that Napo has asked ministers to put the entire service in special measures as it braces for a ‘once in a generation’ crisis.
It comes after more than 700 offenders were released from prison on Thursday as part of an effort to ease pressure on Britain’s overcrowded prisons.
More than 4,500 inmates, including violent criminals, will be eligible for early release over the next ten months under Labour’s soft-justice programme.
In an interview with the Mail, Mr Cockburn said ministers were turning the probation service into ‘the dumping ground for the prison capacity crisis’.
He said the probation service is already severely understaffed and unable to cope with thousands more offenders being released into communities.
‘We’re completely swamped by the level of demand that we’re seeing,’ Mr Cockburn said.
Napo has repeatedly asked ministers to place the entire probation service under special measures until at least April 2027 in order to allow staff to prioritise high-risk offenders.
But it is thought ministers fear doing so would show the system is in crisis.
Mr Cockburn, however, said it would simply ensure the probation service could ‘get through the next few months’.
He said the emergency measures would allow staff to ‘focus on the most risky, most dangerous’ offenders.
‘Other people would essentially, it sounds awful, be deprioritized,’ he added.
‘This is a once in a generational change in terms of how we do things. They’re expecting everybody to be doing the same level of service and that’s just not credible. That’s not possible.’
Ministers have insisted measures are being put in place to keep the public safe despite so many offenders being released at the same time.
Justice secretary Alex Norris has boasted of ‘the biggest expansion of tagging ever’ and plans for new ‘restriction zones’ limiting offenders’ movements with the help of GPS tracking.
But a report has previously found almost half of electronic tags are not fitted on time, leading to breaches of court and prison orders.
Mr Cockburn said that even when tags are fitted, they do not guarantee public safety.
‘There isn’t some alarm that goes off in a probation office when somebody leaves the house during the curfew period,’ he said. ‘You get an email from the tagging company the next day.
‘If somebody enters an exclusion zone, we don’t find that out automatically. I know there’s very small-scale pilots on what they’re calling ‘real-time access’ to people’s movements on GPS.
‘But again, the issue with that is that it’s reactive. It relies on something happening between office hours when a practitioner’s in there and is logged into that system.’
Ministers have also said there would be a ‘presumption that all offenders are electronically tagged on release’, with only rare exceptions.
But Mr Cockburn said that around 20 per cent of offenders who are being released from prison don’t have accommodation, so wouldn’t be considered for tagging.
He said the government’s claims are ‘not the world we’re living in’.
‘Staff are incredibly committed,’ he added. ‘But patience and goodwill have been completely vaporised over the last few years. We’re at a position now where there’s a genuine fear in terms of an existential risk to the probation service as it currently stands.’
Martin Jones, the chief inspector of probation for England and Wales, has previously said the early release of thousands of prisoners could lead to a ‘serious sexual or violent offence or even murder’ because of the extra demands placed on probation staff.
A Ministry of Justice spokesman said: ‘Public safety is our priority. We’re putting a record £700million into probation services, recruiting 2,300 trainee officers over the last two years and a further 1,300 this year, and rolling out the biggest expansion of tagging in UK history.
‘The evidence is clear that tagging works, acting as a constant reminder to offenders that we are watching their every move and will know if they reoffend. Those who break the rules risk being thrown swiftly back behind bars.
‘We’re working with councils and charities to halve prison leaver homelessness by 2029. Homelessness does not mean an offender cannot be tagged, with accommodation support available so offenders can be electronically monitored where appropriate.’
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