Some Prisoners to Be Freed After Serving Only 40 Percent of Sentences

Thousands of prisoners are to be released early—with some serving only 40 percent of their sentences—as the new justice secretary warned there could be a “total breakdown of law and order.” Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood said on Friday prisons in England and Wales were “on the point of collapse” with around 700 places left in adult male prisons and some jails operating at 99 percent capacity since the start of 2023. She said if prisons became full there was the prospect of “van-loads of dangerous people circling the country with nowhere to go,” police officers being unable to arrest criminals, and “looters running amok.”...