Andy Burnham dealt huge blow as prison crisis deepens with system 'on brink of collapse'

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Andy Burnham has been dealt a huge blow as prisons are starting to run out of space despite tens of thousands of criminals being spared jail or released early, it has been revealed.

Ministry of Justice figures show that the number of empty places in men’s prisons has fallen below 1,800 for the first time since Labour introduced a rule against jailing anyone for under one year.

The decision, introduced in March this year, has seen thousands of offenders spared jail, as well as more than 43,000 prisoners released just 40 per cent of the way through their sentences.

Initially the change worked, with the number of spaces in men’s prisons over doubling from 1,646 to 3,433.

However, in recent weeks the gains have eroded, with the number of available places falling to 1,783 this week, similarly close to the number that forced the Government to introduce the measure in March.

One senior prison service official told The Telegraph: “The prison situation is extremely tight – there is very little room for manoeuvre.”

The number of men, women and youth prisoners in England and Wales was 86,722 last week, only 2,199 short of the capacity of 88,921.

Men’s prisons are experiencing the most overcrowding, with jails running at 98 per cent capacity, with 83,096 prisoners occupying most of the 84,819 places available.

The Prime Minister has pledged to do “everything possible to minimise early release” and prevent two of the killers of PC Andrew Harper from being freed halfway through their sentences as opposed to two-thirds of the way.

Mr Burnham has also blocked the release of almost 1,000 rapists and child groomers.

He is now considering whether to keep 500 more people behind bars, convicted of unlawful killings, despite the space issues.

Over 5,000 offenders are set to be released from October onwards for 10 months under Labour’s new scheme.

The new scheme means offenders are either freed halfway through their sentence, rather than two-thirds, or they are freed a third of the way rather than 40 per cent.

Cassia Rowland, an associate director at the Institute for Government, has warned people spared prison or released early may be likely to reoffend.

She said: “Inevitably, quite a lot of people given these sentences will breach the terms of their probation agreement and end up in prison anyway.

“With thousands of people still being recalled each month, numbers are climbing again and this is again putting a lot of pressure on prison capacity.”

David Guake, the former Conservative Justice Secretary, told The Telegraph: “If Burnham prioritises trying to avoid difficult headlines by partially backing away from the earned progression model, he will either precipitate a crisis within months, or leave much of the public disappointed as high-profile releases continue.”

A Ministry of Justice spokesman said that it was fast-tracking its plan to keep more of the “serious offenders,” which will be announced next month.

They added: “We share the public’s anger that these options are even being considered, after we inherited a prison system on the brink of collapse.

“We are fixing this by building 14,000 new prison places, expanding electronic tagging on an unprecedented scale, and investing in probation services at record levels.

“We are also exploring how we can go further, including faster deportation of foreign criminals, better use of the women’s estate and reviewing the unjust IPP sentences.”