Prisoners' Release

(asked on 11th June 2020) - View Source

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask Her Majesty's Government how many prisoners have been released under the End of Custody Temporary Release scheme; and what assessment they have made of the effectiveness of the scheme.


Answered by
 Portrait
Lord Keen of Elie
This question was answered on 25th June 2020

On 4 April, we announced the End of Custody Temporary Release scheme. This scheme enables risk-assessed prisoners, who are within two months of their release date, to be temporarily released from custody, as part of the national approach to managing public services during this challenging period. As of Friday 12 June, 113 offenders have been released under this scheme.

Alongside the careful release of low-risk offenders, we are also implementing our compartmentalisation strategy to manage different cohorts of the prison population, working to expedite remand cases and temporarily expanding the estate through the installation of single occupancy units. This is to strike a balance between limiting the spread of COVID-19 in prisons while ensuring the public is protected. We are providing ongoing monitoring of the scheme to assess its effectiveness as one of a number of measures in place to reduce the impact of COVID-19 in prisons.

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