Around 1,750 convicts are to be set free today in a mass release of prisoners who have completed just 40 per cent of their sentences in a move to tackle overcrowding in prisons.
More than 5,000 inmates, including gang members and domestic violence offenders, are to be released over the following six weeks - triggering fears of mass reoffending.
The decision comes after official figures showed the prison population had reached a record high of 88,521.
HMP Chief Inspector, Charlie Taylor, warned the decision was ill-conceived: "It's a risky time with so many prisoners coming out at the same time.
Around 1,750 convicts are to be set free today in a mass release of prisoners who have completed just 40 per cent of their sentences in a move to tackle overcrowding in prisonsPA"Normally, there are about 1,000 prisoners coming out a week. Most of those 1,000 prisoners will still come out this week.
"But on top of that, we've got 1,700 other prisoners, and then in October, we have another tranche of around 2,000 coming out as well, inevitably, that puts some risks into local communities and greater strain on already stretched probation services," he told Sky News.
Prisoners who have been sentenced for more than four years will not be released under the scheme - meaning gang members and domestic abusers can still be released.
Furthermore, Taylor suggested the rushed policy was likely to cause a surge in "homelessness" and consequent recidivism.
He told the BBC his biggest initial concern was where people were "going to stay that first night" as he warned about a "revolving door" of prisoners resorting to reoffending due to a lack of rehabilitative support.
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS:
The scheme comes after a highly critical report from the chief inspector, which depicted a "devastating life" in prisons, plagued by "drug use, self-harm and violence".
The report stated that 30 out of 32 prisons were "poor or insufficiently good" in providing purposeful activity and 60 per cent were overcrowded.
Defending the policy, Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood said: "It was the only option left on the table because the alternative would have seen the total collapse of the criminal justice system in this country.
"We would have seen the breakdown of law and order because courts would not have been able to conduct trials and the police would not have been able to make arrests."
Prisoners who have been sentenced for more than four years will not be released under the scheme - meaning gang members and domestic abusers can still be released
PAThe releases are part of a plan to free up 5,500 beds in prisons, after populations reached a record high of 88,521, meaning virtually all prisons were full after long-term mismanagement and a surge in incarcerations caused by the summer riots.
In her first speech as justice secretary Mahmood took fire at Rishi Sunak, claiming he and "his gang in No10" were "too weak to weak to head the warning signs that were flashing".
Officials believe the scheme will reduce spending on prisons by £200million a year which rehabilitation advocates urge to be reinvested into rehabilitation schemes.
