Over 1,700 convicted criminals, including violent offenders, were released from British prisons on Monday, as part of a scheme from the Labour government to reduce “overcrowding.”
Over the next six weeks, well over 5,000 criminals are set to be released from prisons in the UK. Every prisoner, apart from violent criminals sentenced to over four years in jail, are eligible for this early release. Any of the prisoners who are currently homeless will be housed at the tax-payer’s expense in hotels, according to Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood.
GB News reporter Charlie Peters was present outside HMP Wandsworth in London, and captured corks flying as bottles of alcohol were opened and sprayed in celebration as part of a welcome home party for one of the early release prisoners.
Many of the prisoners thanked the Labour Prime Minister Keir Starmer for the policy, with one, a drug dealer, saying he was now a “lifelong Labour voter,” and another promising that he would be a “good boy” now that he was out of prison, according to the Daily Mail.
One of the prisoners who was set to be released on Monday was Lawson Natty, 18, who served only 6 months of a two year sentence for the manslaughter of 14-year-old Gordon Gault in Newcastle in 2022. Natty supplied the machete that was used to kill Gault.
“I feel totally sick to my stomach that he’s allowed out now after only serving months,” Gault’s mother told ITV’s Good Morning Britain. “Fair enough let petty crimes out, not somebody who’s killed a 14-year-old child, someone who purchases machetes. What if he goes out and does it again to somebody else?”
Another released prisoner was Michael Egan, 79, who has served only 19 months of his 4 year sentence for the historic abuse of his step-daughter, Miram Lake, 47. As a young child, Egan forced Lake to lick dog excrement from his shoes, burnt cigarettes out on her, and kicked her to the point she coughed up blood, among other offences.
“My concern is how domestic abuse victims will suffer as a result of this new early release law. It’s the message to perpetrators as well, to say, you can be released,” Lake told the Daily Mail. “The government said domestic abusers won’t be released if you research the conditions on this new early release scheme, yet they are. My abuser is being released – despite my childhood being taken away after the sadist torture and brutality I suffered for years,” she added.
Some of the other prisoners include a man who broke his partner’s jaw, convicted thieves and domestic abusers, and Jason Hoganson, a former actor with 109 convictions on his record who served only three weeks in prison for assaulting his ex-partner.
However, the General Secretary of the Prison Association defended the policy in an interview with GB News, claiming it was “inevitable,” whoever had been in power after the recent general election. “I don’t think any Government, whether it’s Conservative or Labour, would want to do this willingly,” said Steve Gillan. “As far as I’m concerned, victims should always come first. But our prisons are full, the criminal justice system is collapsing, and the last 14 years of Tory rule has undoubtedly been a total disaster.”
The release of dangerous criminals comes as courts continue to hand down harsh prison sentences for hundreds of individuals arrested during the Southport riots that followed the stabbing murder of three little girls.
Speaking to Sky News last month, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said that the government had “made sure there are additional prosecutors in place, that there are prisons, that prison places are ready, and also that the courts stand ready as well.” Justice Minister Shabana Mahmood has further said that prison cells were “waiting” for those arrested during the unrest.
Despite the “overcrowding” concern, some of the individuals sent to prison have been convicted of what some describe as “thought crimes.” These include a man who shouted “racist insults” at police, a woman who posted a racist message on Facebook, and a man who was described as an “armchair rioter.”
