About 650 Prisoners Freed in Third Wave of UK Early Release: 19-Year-Old Domestic Abuser Made Gun Gesture, Drug Dealer Thanked the Prime Minister
England and Wales carried out the third wave of the government's early release scheme on November 10, with about 650 prisoners walking out of jail that day. The releases are the latest stage of a phased plan to ease prison overcrowding: this cohort was serving more than 882 days and fewer than 1,163 days, and under the new rules leaves after serving no more than a third of the sentence behind bars, rather than half.
According to the BBC, at least 1,350 offenders had already been released early since the first wave on October 1, and about 5,000 are due to be freed in stages over the coming year, culminating next June with those serving more than 12 years. Ministry of Justice figures put the prison population of England and Wales at 86,982 on November 9. Rapists, the most serious child sex offenders, people convicted of manslaughter, terrorists and murderers on life sentences are excluded. Officials say those freed will in principle be fitted with GPS tags and face what the government calls the toughest supervision in British history.
The Sun recorded scenes outside the prisons: Jake Sharp, 19, grinned and made gun signs as he left Holme House jail in Teesside, saying early release was, in his words, spot on. Sharp, from Stockton-on-Tees, had been jailed for multiple domestic abuse offences after threatening to kill and strangling a woman. Also freed was Isa Salim, 19, jailed for three years in May for drug dealing and possessing a knife in Middlesbrough; carrying a bag containing a teddy bear he had made in prison for his mother, he replied, when asked for a message for the Prime Minister: Nice one, thank you. Prisoners were also released in Birmingham, Durham and Wandsworth in London.
The scheme continues to draw concern from victims' groups and police. Greater Manchester's chief constable, Sir Stephen Watson, said 22 percent of those released into his area in October were already back inside. Hetti Barkworth-Nanton, who chairs the domestic abuse charity Refuge, said some survivors had gone into refuges away from home out of fear of their perpetrator being released.
Source: BBC
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Photo: 英国伦敦Wandsworth监狱正楼（资料图，该监狱是本批释放地点之一）。图：Geograph贡献者，CC BY-SA 2.0，经维基共享资源 / Front block of HMP Wandsworth, London (file photo; the prison was among the sites releasing inmates in this wave). Photo via Geograph, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
