Prisoner Early Release Scheme

Lord Roe of West Wickham Excerpts

Thursday 23rd July 2026 Lords Chamber

[Lord Katz (Lab)]

I thank the noble Lord for his question. We are all about restoring public confidence in the criminal justice system. That includes, as I said, making good the sore lack of investment that we saw in our prison system. It is important to be clear that victims are at all times at the centre of our thoughts when it comes to the whole of this policy issue. Indeed, one of the reforms in the Sentencing Act is that victims are given a chance to inform licence conditions if a prisoner qualifies for release. That could cover a number of things, such as tagging, an exclusion zone or a non-contact scheme. The noble Lord is right that victims must always be at the absolute front and centre of our minds when it comes to this issue. But we need to make sure that we have enough space to take prisoners who should be in prison, and that when they are in prison it does the job of protecting the public and preventing reoffending.

[Lord Roe of West Wickham (Lab)]

My Lords, I thank my noble friend for the answers he has given so far. I think it is well recognised that housing and access to housing is one of the primary determinants of whether an individual reoffends, regardless of whether they are released early or within the course of a normal sentence. Can my noble friend reassure this House that, in reviewing the early release scheme, matters of housing have been taken into serious consideration around both the impact and the possibility of reoffending?

[Lord Katz (Lab)]

My noble friend is right. One of the things that the Sentencing Act did was eradicate—I might even call it a travesty—Friday release, whereby people were released from prison with nowhere to go and no chance of having anywhere to go. When people say they have beaten a drug or alcohol problem in prison and want to put their life straight upon release, we have to make sure that they are given adequate access to housing so that they can get their lives set up, make progress and become a useful member of society. My noble friend is right on that.