Prisons set to be full by Easter after plans revealed to release offenders two months early

The Prime Minister’s spokesman said prisons would be overcrowded by Easter.

Meanwhile, Justice Secretary Alex Chalk announced measures aimed at reducing the number of foreign offenders (FNOs) in UK prisons in a speech in the House of Commons.

There are currently approximately 10,000 such offenders in the prison system.

Chuck said the government would “radically change” the way it deals with FNOs to free up prison space, including allowing some prisoners to be released two months early.

An extension of the End of Custody Supervision License (ECSL) scheme was announced on Monday, extending the period from 18 days to a maximum of 60 days in an attempt to ease overcrowding pressures on prisons in England and Wales.

The government insists the measure is temporary, but Sky News has previously Disclosure of leaked documents This reveals its intention to continue for an “undefined” period. The plan is based on the prison originally launched on the 21st and has been “updated” and “revised” to apply to the new prison.

Mr Chalke told the House of Commons today: “I can tell the House that we are going to fundamentally change the way FNO cases are dealt with. We have set up a new working group within the Home Office and the Ministry of Justice, including the Prison Service, Immigration Enforcement , and the Asylum and Modern Slavery Group.

“We have deployed 400 additional social workers to prioritize these cases. They will be in place by the end of March and we will streamline the end-to-end removal process.

“Secondly, we are expanding the number of FNOs that can be removed, for example by introducing legislation that would allow us to remove foreign criminals and retain limited licenses with conditional caveats.”

The justice minister said the work builds on reforms he proposed in October, including extending the early deportation scheme from a maximum of 12 months to 18 months “so that eligible FNOs can be deported six months earlier.” expulsion”.

Mr Chalke said nearly 400 FNOs had been withdrawn from the UK, adding that a “strong new deal with Albania” and plans in the Criminal Justice Bill to rent prisons overseas would also help.