1,100 prisoners are set to be released from prison in a bid to help reduce overcrowding. Discussing the plans, justice secretary Shabana Mahmood warned that there are strict measures in place for those released early. "All of those who are released under this scheme usually face strict license conditions and if they break those conditions they face recall to prison," she said. Report by Kennedyl. Like us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/itn and follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/itn
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00:00We've had to pull this emergency release mechanism because the crisis that I faced when I walked
00:05into the Ministry of Justice at the beginning of July of this year was acute and we were
00:09on the brink of disaster. All of those who are released under this scheme and actually
00:15prisoners who are released in the normal way under licence usually face strict licence
00:19conditions. If they break those conditions they are recalled to prison. I expect the
00:24rate of recall to prison for breaking licensing conditions to track the same as it would for
00:29other types of releases. So we haven't seen an increase in recalls for this cohort of
00:33offenders but recalls do happen in the normal way. It normally tracks between 6 and 10%
00:39of those who are released on licence end up breaking their licence conditions and end
00:43up back in prison. It varies the length of time that they do go back in prison for but
00:48that is the point of being on licence. It is there to say you have to behave yourself,
00:52you have to abide by these conditions. If you break them you do go back to prison.