Around 1,700 prisoners to be freed from jail early amid reoffending warning

Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. “If people are coming out, they’re not properly prepared, and they’re homeless, then what we’ll see is the danger that they’ll commit more offences, or that they breach their bail conditions, in which case they’ll end up back inside again.” Speaking to BBC Breakfast on Tuesday, he also said the issue of prison overcrowding is harming prisoners’ prospects of rehabilitation. He said: “Prisoners are locked in their cells for long periods of time, relationships with prison officers are often transactional and most importantly of all they’re not getting involved in the sort of purposeful activity, the education, the work, the training, that is going to make them less likely to reoffend when they come out.” Mr Taylor’s comments came as his annual report was released, which said the number of prisoners is projected to grow by about 27,000 by 2028, meaning it is unlikely to be possible to build enough new accommodation. Charities said the early release scheme will only “buy a little time” and would not provide a lasting solution in the face of “brutalising conditions” Andrea Coomber KC, chief executive of the Howard League for Penal Reform, said prisons and probation needed to be completely reset after she described the “woeful education and training” for inmates and “squalor, self-harm, drugs, violence and unmet mental health needs, all in the midst of severe overcrowding”. We cannot continue to warehouse people in these conditions and expect that things will be better when they’re released Pia Sinha, chief executive of the Prison Reform Trust Meanwhile, the Prison Reform Trust said prisoners are being “warehoused” and need to be spending time in education, training and work rather than “sharing an overcrowded cell for 23 hours a day”.