Serious questions over plan to free 1,200 prisoners

There are serious questions surrounding the Government’s plan to ease prison overcrowding by releasing 1,200 inmates over the next three years.

The union representing staff in the Probation Service — which is tasked with managing these inmates in the community — said it does not have the staff or resources to take on such a “phenomenal” number of extra offenders.

David Williamson, spokesman for the Probation Officers’ Branch in Impact, said the rollout of the community return scheme comes at a time when the service was still reeling from a 10% cut in staffing levels and an increased workload of about 40%.