new government in the UK is having to deal with serious crisis in its prison system. new Labour administration made decision on Friday to release thousands of prisoners before convicts had finished serving their sentence. Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer attributed mess in Britain's prisons service to decade of neglect and underinvestment under previous Conservative Party, which had been in power for 14 years. prisoner population is nearly at capacity. Inmates are having to be released early to accommodate newly-sentenced felons. Some will be released having served just 40 per cent of their time. Mr Starmer said problem was "pretty unforgivable, in my book".
UK's justice secretary, Shabana Mahmood, warned of "total breakdown in law and order" if prisons reached capacity. Ms Mahmood said: "Prisons are on point of collapse". If space ran out, there would be nowhere to put those arrested or newly sentenced. justice system would be overloaded. Mahmood said there would be "looters running amok, smashing windows, robbing shops and setting neighbourhoods alight". There are currently only 1,451 places available. She blamed former leader Rishi Sunak and prisons ministers for "dereliction of duty" and for decimating system. She called them: " guilty men who put their political careers ahead of safety and security of our country."
