Government had no choice but to implement early release scheme, says prisons minister

The new prisons minister Lord Timpson has said the government had no choice but to implement the controversial early release scheme – to ease the pressure on overcrowded jails.

The minister told the Prison Governors’ Association conference it had been “quite frankly a rescue effort”.

He admitted the crisis is not over. Tonight, this programme has been told – yet another prison HMP Manchester is to be issued with an urgent notification by inspectors – amid concerns about violence, drugs and the state of the prison itself.