Prisoners could be released up to 70 days early

Some prisoners will be freed up to 70 days early, after a scheme aimed at tackling overcrowding in jails in England and Wales was extended.

The scheme was introduced last October, at the time allowing for release up to 18 days early, with this increased to up to 60 days in March.

Anyone convicted of a sexual, terrorist or serious violent offence is automatically excluded.

Labour claimed the Tories had used “a cloak of secrecy” to extend the scheme.

There was no formal announcement of the extension, which was revealed by the Times.

However, Labour’s shadow justice secretary Shabana Mahmood has tabled an urgent question on the issue in Parliament, which a minister will have to respond to later.

The change will take effect from 23 May.

Ministers have previously said the scheme was “targeted” and “operating in prisons as required and where necessary”.

The prison population has ballooned in recent decades as a result of tougher sentences and court backlogs.

At the beginning of this month the prison population stood at 87,505, with the total usable capacity at 88,895.

The figure is up from 84,772 a year ago, while capacity has increased by around 3,000 places.

Chief inspector of prisons Charlie Taylor said “there simply isn’t enough space” despite “frantic” attempts to increase capacity with temporary accommodation and two new prisons.

“The number of places simply can’t keep pace with the number of people coming in,” he told Times Radio.

Ms Mahmood said: “The Tories have once again used a cloak of secrecy to hide their early release of violent criminals.

“This is a national scandal, the public has a right to know the truth.”

A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said: “We will always ensure there is enough capacity to keep dangerous offenders behind bars.

“We are carrying out the biggest prison expansion programme in a hundred years, opening up 20,000 modern places, and ramping up work to remove foreign national offenders.”

The spokesperson said offenders would continue to be supervised under conditions such as tagging and curfews.