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Labour will abolish most short prison sentences and roll out a Texas-style scheme under which inmates can earn early release through good behaviour, it has emerged.
The government will next month legislate for the changes, as well as toughening up community punishments.
As it seeks to avoid a fresh prison capacity crisis, it will seek to pass a bill containing the changes when parliament returns from recess in September.
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Shabana Mahmood is pressing ahead with the Texas-style plans(PA Wire)
The central change will be the introduction of an “earned progression model”, sources told The Guardian, which will see prisoners with fixed-term sentences released early for good behaviour.
It will see criminals, including some convicted of violent crimes, released after serving as little as a third of their sentence.
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The change was floated last year when Ms Mahmood visited Texas, which lets inmates cut the amount of time spent behind bars by earning credit for good behaviour. They can also earn points by taking part in courses aimed at tackling the root causes of offending.
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The courses include vocational workshops, education and training, as well as sessions on drug rehabilitation and behavioural change.
Ms Mahmood’s bill will reportedly also end sentences of less than 12 months, excluding where there are exceptional circumstances, with ministers said to believe they are counterproductive and drive crime.
Ministry of Justice figures last month showed that almost two-thirds of those who served less than a year went on to reoffend.
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Britain’s prisons have faced a capacity crisis(PA Archive)
The plans come after the department confirmed plans to ban convicted criminals from going to the pub, music concerts and sports events in a bid to toughen up community sentencing.
Offenders could also face limits on driving, travel bans and restriction zones confining them to specific areas.
Those who break the conditions could then face being dragged back in front of a judge and given a tougher punishment.
Similar restrictions could also apply to prisoners let out on licence, while mandatory drug testing will also be expanded to cover all those released.
Courts already have the power to impose conditions on certain sentences, such as banning football hooligans from grounds, but the new measures, which would apply in England and Wales, would allow them to be imposed for any offence.
Ms Mahmood is also reportedly planning to press ahead with a voluntary chemical castration system for sex offenders in England and Wales, and could even make it mandatory.
The justice secretary said: “When criminals break society's rules, they must be punished. Those serving their sentences in the community must have their freedom restricted there too.
“These new punishments should remind all offenders that, under this Government, crime does not pay.
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“Rightly, the public expect the Government to do everything in its power to keep Britain safe, and that’s what we’re doing.”
The government said the new steps were part of wider reforms to cut crime while ensuring there were enough places for the most dangerous offenders.