Killers may still be released after serving just half of their sentence

Rapists are set to be exempt from Labour's early release scheme.

Last week, after intense pressure from MPs and campaigners, Andy Burnham ordered an urgent review of the early release policy, introduced by former Justice Secretary David Lammy.

Serious offenders, including killers, rapists and sex offenders were set to be released from prison before the Prime Minister paused the scheme.

Mr Burnham and Alex Norris, new Justice Secretary, have been presented with a list of options that includes exempting all rapists from the scheme, according to The Telegraph.

But offenders convicted of manslaughter, including two of the men who killed PC Andrew Harper, may still be released early under Mr Burnham's administration.

The early release scheme to free 6,000 eligible offenders was set to be commence on September 2 - until the review halted plans.

Under an "earned progression" scheme, designed to tackle a rising prison population, serious offenders would have been eligible to be freed halfway through their sentence, rather than two-thirds.

And lower level criminals could have been freed after serving just a third of their sentence.

Analysis conducted by the Telegraph suggested that 220 child rapists and a further 344 rapists would be excluded from the scheme.

Mr Burnham may also scrap plans to restrict jury trials, another policy introduced by Mr Lammy.

On Friday, he said: "I want to really look in detail at that proposal and my instincts are that we need to find ways of not reducing access to jury trial.

"It's similar to the early release scheme. I want to get inside these issues before I confirm any of the plans that I inherited and, in fact, probably looking for changes."

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The early release scheme is enshrined in the Sentencing Act 2026, meaning any changes to the legislation would have to be made when Parliament returns on September 1.

In a press conference with victims of sexual abuse on Tuesday, Kemi Badenoch and Shadow Justice Minister Kieran Mullan urged the Government to introduce emergency legislation to formally halt any early releases.

On Thursday, the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) figures revealed that over 50,000 prisoners, a record high, were recalled in the year to March.

Up 28 per cent over the previous 12 months, the Government admitted the early release of more than 70,000 inmates had "likely" contributed to the sharp increase in recalls.

The department also stressed it was likely to have been influenced by policy changes which see most offenders taken back into custody for 56 days before being released again instead of being held until the end of their sentence.

Earlier this month, Mr Lammy said unless serious offenders were released, prisons could be nearly full in just six months, insisting that opponents of the scheme had offered "no solutions" to deal with capacity.

"We would get back to a situation where we were running, at 99, nearly 100 per cent," he said.

An MoJ spokesman said: "Protecting the public will always be our top priority. That is why this Government is taking decisive action to fix the prison crisis it inherited while investing record sums to support victims.

"We have paused changes due to start in September to conduct an urgent review to make sure we get this policy right for victims without running out of prison spaces."