Prime Minister Andy Burnham has said he will “put a pause” on the plan for the early release of prisoners.
Under the new Sentencing Act set to come into force in September, some 6,000 criminals were due to be released under the early prison release scheme.
Mr Burnham said: “Keeping the public safe will always be my top priority.
“I am working closely with the new Justice Secretary and have instructed my team to put a pause on the changes that were due to start in September.
“No prisoners will be let out under this policy until we have conducted an urgent review and done everything we can to minimise risk to the public.
“Where changes are needed, we will not hesitate to make them.”
It comes after the family of police officer Andrew Harper criticised the fact that two of his killers were being considered for early release.
Lissie Harper, his widow, described the scheme as “deplorable”.
Pc Harper was 28 years old when he sustained fatal injuries while responding to a quad bike theft in Sulhamstead, Berkshire, in August 2019.
The driver of the vehicle that caused Pc Harper’s death, Henry Long, received a 16-year sentence, and would not have been eligible for the scheme.
But early release was on the cards for Jessie Cole and Albert Bowers, who were passengers in the car and handed 13 years in custody for manslaughter after a trial at the Old Bailey in 2020.
Both men could have become eligible to be released from prison after serving half of their sentences, rather than two-thirds.
Mr Burnham had already said he would review the early release policy.
“I can’t say that I can change the policy completely, but I will look at it in detail before we go further forward,” he told reporters on Wednesday.
Domestic abuse commissioner Dame Nicole Jacobs welcomed the move.
She said: “I’m extremely pleased to see the Prime Minister take swift action to fully pause the early release scheme, which would have seen dangerous abusers released into the community without any protections in place for survivors.
“Ministers should never have underestimated the risk domestic abuse perpetrators pose to their victim.
“They know where they live, where they work and where their children go to school and they will stop at nothing to control, coerce and harm.
“It’s clear the prison capacity crisis is one the Government needs to grip, but this should not come at the expense of victims’ safety.”
