Prisoners dance their way out of Yorkshire prisons after early release

Stuart Bennett does a dance in the street as he leaves HM Prison Leeds on the day an early release scheme came in to effect
-Credit: (Image: SWNS)


An inmate who had spent time at a Yorkshire prison broke out into a dance after being released early as the new government battles overcrowding.

Prisoners are being released before their sentences are served in a bid to cut overcrowding behind bars across the country. The prison population in England and Wales hit an all-time high of 88,521 last week, with Prime Minister Keir Starmer describing the situation as a "crisis point".

Around 1,700 inmates will be released, with more being let out early in October. The total of those released over the coming weeks is set to be 5,500. One of those is Stuart Bennett, 49, who danced as he was released. He said he felt prison and probation services were in urgent need of reform after being released two weeks after being recalled to prison.

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Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice Shabana Mahmood said if the Labour government had not acted when it came into office, there was a "real risk" that courts would have to delay sending offenders to prison, and that police officers would have been unable to arrest criminals.

The comments came after HM Inspectorate of Prisons annual report, by Chief inspector of prisons Charlie Taylor, and the introduction of SDS40 - the temporary measure allowing inmates to be released after serving 40 per cent their sentence in custody rather than 50 per cent. Downing Street said the policy had to be brought in to avoid “unchecked criminality” where the police and courts are unable to lock anyone up because there were no places available.

Chief inspector of prisons Taylor, said that the Government “had no choice but to do something” about overcrowding because “the bath was in danger of overflowing, and they either had to turn the taps off or they had to let some water out."

A double cell inside HMP Leeds
A double cell inside HMP Leeds -Credit:HM Inspectorate of Prisons

But he also warned some of those released would be homeless which could increase their chances of reoffending.

Mr Taylor said: “It’s inevitable that some of these prisoners will get recalled to custody and it’s inevitable that some of them will go out homeless. 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.”

The Lord Chancellor said: The Chief Inspector’s report lays bare the stark reality in our prisons, and the dire situation we inherited.

“This Government will tackle the crisis head on and today, changes will come into force to prevent a total collapse of our criminal justice system that would leave the public less safe. If we had not acted when we came into office, there was a real risk that the courts would have been forced to delay sending offenders to jail and police left unable to arrest dangerous criminals.

“This is a temporary measure, giving us time to set about long-term change in the prison system – building the prisons we need and driving down reoffending.”

HMP Leeds in Armley
HMP Leeds in Armley

The Mirror reports that Burglars, shoplifters and fraudsters who are serving short sentences are among those expected to be released early. The scheme will apply to prisoners in most prisons bar high security (Category A) ones, with varying amounts released from each. The plan will be reviewed in 18 months.

Anyone released will be monitored on licence by the Probation Service through measures which can include electronic tagging and curfews. They face being recalled to prison if they breach their licence conditions.

Prisoners who are serving sentences for serious violent offences of four years or more, as well as sex offences, will be automatically excluded from the early release scheme. Offenders who were jailed for domestic abuse crimes will also be excluded. The plans have been criticised by people including the aunt of Zara Aleena, who was murdered by a man who had been out of prison on licence for nine days.

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The vistor entrance to HM Prison Wealstun -Credit:Google

Farah Naz warned that releasing inmates early could be "a dangerous gamble with public safety" if the probation service is unable to cope. "If the system cannot deal with those people being released into the community, then those people are not going to be supervised adequately,” she said at the time.

Victims' Commissioner Baroness Newlove also warned that victims had not been made aware their perpetrator was being released early in every case.

Prisoners who had served time at HMP Leeds were among those released on Tuesday. They included addict Joe Lindsey, 29, who was released nine weeks into a nine-month sentence for shoplifting. It was his third prison stretch within the last year. Waiting outside the prison on Tuesday, Joe's dad Andrew said: "The Labour government has inherited this. Early release of prisoners was always on the cards.

“I just hope it’s organised properly and prison staff are in touch with local job centres and they can have access to their benefits and support when they’re out. In the case of my son, he has his own tenancy and he will need to go to the job centre. I’ll drop him off there and if he needs a lift to the drug rehabilitation centre.

Stuart Bennett does a dance in the street as he leaves HM Prison Leeds on the day an early release scheme came in to effect.
Stuart Bennett does a dance in the street as he leaves HM Prison Leeds on the day an early release scheme came in to effect. -Credit:SWNS

“When he’s been released before, he’s been given a court order to comply with rehabilitation activity but sadly he hasn’t engaged with them which is why he’s ended up back in. I don’t think they should be in prison if it’s drug related. I think they should perhaps be in a hospital setting. I think there’s a high prevalence of drugs in prisons which doesn’t help people be rehabilitated.

“My son has been in prison three times this year but before that he had no criminal convictions. But once the heroin took control, it was a downward spiral. It’s the drug industry and the criminals that run that trade that need tackling, but God only knows how you do that.”

Fellow inmate, Mr Bennett, 49, said: “Prison needs reform. There are people who aren’t committing crime that are getting locked up.

“I reckon 70 per cent of people in there need help, not punishment. We’re a lost generation of ravers who didn’t know the party was over. There’s a lot of people being drug tested and doing drug rehabilitation and getting jailed if they fail as punishment. They need help. Prison needs reform and probation needs reform.”

A prison officer outside HMP Leeds said he feared "around 50 per cent" of prisoners released early will end up back behind bars. 14 inmates were among the 1,7000 being released nationally. He said: "Normally, we have a high re-offended rate anyway and that’s when we have the proper care in place.

HMP Leeds
HMP Leeds

“Usually when someone is released, we can plan that they have access to probation services, local housing associations, drug rehabilitation services.“ And even when we have that, lads still fall by the wayside. This has been rushed through and they’re basically coming out with a discharge notice and ‘off you go’.

“A lot of them have been released on a conveyer belt as it is, they have come in, a lot of them are repeat offenders and it’s like a revolving door. They’ve not been In long enough to access the services and now they’re being released without the proper aftercare in place.

“I’m sure there will be a lot of lads being released today that will reoffend. I reckon we’ll see about 50% of them back in.”

The BBC reports prisoners were released on Tuesday from HMP Humber, a category C prison in East Yorkshire. It said an inmate was met by a middle-aged man who he hugged, before waving to reporters.

Inmates were also released from HMP Wealstun. The BBC reports that a man who had been released said he was sent to prison after being convicted of assault and threats to kill. He said he was sentenced to 28 months and expected to serve 14 of them, but has been released after 13 months.