Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood will unveil a series of measures granting early release to thousands - which she will say are necessary to avert 'unchecked criminality on our streets'.
Claims that the prisons crisis could trigger a breakdown of law and order within weeks were blasted by the Tories as 'shameless scaremongering' last night.
'Labour have come into government with hundreds of prison places available – but they've lost their nerve, and are now stoking public panic for political gain.
'If nothing was done, I would be professionally very, very worried by the August bank holiday,' a senior prisons source said. A senior police source said the system would grind to a halt if newly remanded criminals could not be sent from the courts to prison. It is understood that senior figures in the criminal justice system fear it could trigger looting, opportunistic crimes and brazen breaches of bail conditions by offenders living in the community.
He confirmed thousands of inmates will have to be freed early, but said 'exemption categories' will mean high-risk prisoners are ineligible. Asked if former PM Rishi Sunak had blocked similar measures, Mr Chalk refused to disclose private discussions but added: 'It is reasonable to say there were a variety of views about what could be got through Parliament.'
Much depends on how well it is managed. It takes up to six weeks to prepare an inmate for release, so they have somewhere to live and are properly supervised when they get out, for example.But if done poorly – and note that the probation service is already under severe stress – there is a terrible risk of criminals going back to their old ways.
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