Criminals who have been locked up for serious offences – such as manslaughter – could be offered parole sooner under plans to reform sentencing and provide a sustainable prison capacity.
But – amid pressure from the family of Sarah Everard – she said the measures would ensure the most dangerous criminals would remain behind bars.
And in a recent interview, he said sentencing reform people serving “relatively long sentences will have to be released sooner” – describing the measures as “controversial” but “necessary”.
She said reviewing shorter sentences is “not going to be enough” to ease the capacity pressures and said she had not ruled out further emergency measures, such as the early release scheme announced in 2024.
Mahmood has hinted that changes to sentencing would not affect the most serious dangerous offenders, such as Everard’s murderer, the ex-police officer Wayne Cousins.
Mahmood commissioned the review from Gauke, one of her predecessors in the role, after having to resort to the release of prisoners before the end of their sentences to prevent the country from running out of cells.
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“But one thing is clear. We are already running back over 99 per cent capacity in the prison estate, so we’re not going to get to a position of sustainable prison capacity, including with new builds, with simply just action on shorter sentences.”
“We are particularly interested in the effects that a good behaviour type system could have here for us,” she said.
She said, despite plans to build 14,000 new prison places, the UK could not “build our way out of this crisis” and expects “pinch points” in prison capacity and has not “ruled out further operational measures if needed”.
She added: “I’ve already announced operational measures on home detention curfew and the extension of the use of home detention curfew, which will assist in prison capacity in the medium term.
The prison, opened by Mahmood on the outskirts of York, will house prisoners nearing the end of their sentences with a focus on rehabilitation and preparation for the outside world.
It provides workshops to teach vocations like carpentry, cleaning, plumbing and barista skills, and offers prisoners the chance to form their own elected “council” to act as a voice for the prison population.
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