James Cleverly has criticised Labour’s approach to tackling prison overcrowding, describing it as “completely” misguided.
The government granted early release to 1,750 prisoners on Tuesday in an attempt to address chronic overcrowding. Hundreds more are due to be freed early next month in the second stage of the scheme.
The prison population in England and Wales hit 88,521 last week — an all-time high — leading prime minister Keir Starmer to declare the situation is at “crisis point.”
On Tuesday, justice secretary Shabana Mahmood told MPs that the scheme coming into force was the start of the “rescue effort” for the justice system.
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“I have authorised probation directors to make use of alternative arrangements including budget hotels as a temporary measure, for the cases that we will see in the next few weeks”, she said.
However, Cleverly, a former home secretary, said the government has gotten its “priorities wrong” on the issue.
He told Sky News: “They got the prioritisation completely wrong. We have domestic abusers, we have sex offenders, we have criminals that have many repeat convictions.”
He added: “The point is, we’ve seen the images of people saying thank you to the Labour government, just as we saw images of illegal migrants in France waiting for a Labour government before they came across on small boats.
“Labour have got all their priorities wrong.”
Speaking on Wednesday morning, a government minister admitted the “optics aren’t great” of early release prisoners celebrating their freedom with sparkling wine outside prison gates yesterday.
However Matthew Pennycook, a housing minister, said the policy was a necessary “emergency stop gap” while Labour boosts capacity.
Asked about the optics of prisoners celebrating with bubbles, Pennycook told Sky News: “The optics aren’t great. But again, and I will blame the previous government, because we inherited a prisons system on the verge of collapse.
On Tuesday, Cleverly secured a spot in the final four of the Tory leadership contest but has failed to boost his support in yesterday’s second round of voting.
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