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The justice secretary has unveiled new plans to tackle the overcrowding crisis that has engulfed jails across the country.
In a speech at HMP Five Wells in Northamptonshire, Shabana Mahmood said failing to ease pressure on prisons could cause a “total breakdown of law and order”.
Thousands of prisoners are to be released earlier than planned as the government attempts to avert the “collapse” of the prisons system.
The plans would see a temporary reduction in the proportion of their sentence many prisoners must serve in jail from 50 per cent to 44 per cent.
This would not apply to violent offenders serving more than four years, sex offenders or those in prison for crimes connected to domestic abuse.
The change is expected to come into force in September, with the Justice Secretary also announcing the recruitment of 1,000 additional trainee probation officers by March.
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