KEY POINTS
- Offenders serving less than five years are being released after 40% of their sentence, rather than the usual 50%
- One freed prisoner said that "every cell was full"; another calls his prison "chokka"; while another says "cells were falling apart"
Around 1,700 prisoners were released from UK jails today under the Labour government's controversial early release programme. The scheme, which aims to reduce overcrowding in prisons, has been met with widespread criticism, particularly from victims' rights advocates, who argue it places the public at risk.
