A failure to put in place safeguards in advance of a change to the law that will result in offenders being released early will put abuse victims at risk, ministers have been told.
In a rare coordinated intervention, the victims commissioner and the domestic abuse commissioner have written separately to ministers urging them immediately to pause planned early releases of offenders convicted of crimes against women and girls in England and Wales.
It comes as charities say that a growing number of victims have been thrown into panic, with some installing CCTV for their own protection, after receiving letters informing them that offenders will start being released early under the new Sentencing Act from September.
The law, brought in to deal with a prisons crisis that has been decades in the making, is designed to combat prison overcrowding. But the justice secretary, David Lammy, and the prisons minister, James Timpson, have been accused of breaking promises to the commissioners and ministers in other departments that safeguards and support for victims would be in place by the time the release happens.
Rape Crisis England & Wales and other charities said support services could be overwhelmed with calls as more victims learned of the release dates for offenders in the coming weeks.
In the months after Labour came to power, more than 38,000 prisoners were released under emergency measures as prison capacity reached breaking point. But unlike the emergency measures, the sentencing law passed in January with the aim of avoiding another crisis includes no exemptions for prisoners convicted of serious crimes, domestic abuse or terrorism.
Jess Phillips, who resigned as the safeguarding minister in May, said she raised multiple fears about risk analysis before the sentencing bill was put before parliament, but her concerns were not acted on.
“They need to halt all releases related to violence against women and girls until they can prove that proper risk assessments are being done in every case,” she said. “Without the correct victim support systems in place, the state is leaving the responsibility of the prisons crisis in victims’ hands. That cannot be right.”
Claire Waxman, the victims commissioner, and Nicole Jacobs, the domestic abuse commissioner, said they had been given “specific reassurances” before the bill was passed that were still not in place.
Waxman said: “I was repeatedly told that victims would be properly informed and reassured that measures would be put in place to keep them safe. What is abundantly clear now is that communication with victims, safeguarding and support has been an afterthought.”
Nicole Jacobs, domestic abuse commissioner, said planning for a promised helpline had not even begun. Photograph: Jill Mead/The Guardian
Writing to the justice secretary and the prisons minister, Jacobs said such measures included a dedicated helpline for victims promised in the Victims and Courts Act. “I understand that planning for it has not even begun,” she wrote.
Other promised safeguards included thorough checks before release, and support services being given “a full picture” of perpetrator risk and how they would be managed. “These were not vague commitments, they were the conditions on which this scheme was deemed acceptable to alleviate the capacity crisis and protect public safety,” Jacobs wrote. “To date, none of them have been met.”
In a letter to Lord Timpson, Waxman wrote: “I do not have confidence that offenders’ risk will be adequately assessed, that victims’ safety will be addressed, or that probation is in a position to manage this volume of offenders in the community.”
Jess Phillips talking to West Midlands police last year. She said she repeatedly raised concerns about early release during her time as safeguarding minister. Photograph: Joe Giddens/PA
She said letters sent to victims had been “disastrous for trust and confidence in the justice system”, with many recipients expressing “shock, anxiety, anger and confusion”. “They feel betrayed by the justice system and insulted at the way in which the communication has been handled,” she added.
One victim of non-recent child sexual abuse told Waxman she had bought CCTV for her own protection after receiving the letter, saying: “I don’t trust the government to keep me safe any more.”
Another woman told the Guardian that the man who raped her breached a non-molestation order 26 times during the five years it took for her case to get to trial. “He will now potentially spend less time in prison than the time it took to get to court, but I got a life sentence,” she said. “The victims are forgotten and the justice system is broken.”
The Conservatives met victims of grooming gangs on Tuesday and forced a non-binding opposition day motion in the Commons demanding the new Sentencing Act is rewritten to strip rapists, paedophiles and grooming gang members of the right to release after serving half of their sentence rather than two-thirds.
Jade Belgrove, who has waived her anonymity as a child rape survivor, said she was “petrified for the women who have been through this”. Her petition calling for a stop to the early release of sexual offenders has more than 62,000 signatures.
Under the new system, also designed to improve rehabilitation rates, prisoners serving sentences for less serious crimes can be freed after serving a third of their sentence instead of 40%. Prisoners locked up for some violent or sexual offences are eligible for release halfway through their sentences rather than two-thirds.
A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said public safety and victim support was its “top priority”. Ministers have stated that a £700m investment in probation by 2028 will lead to the biggest expansion of tagging in history, with offenders facing strict licence conditions, closer supervision, exclusion zones and curfews.
They said £550m was being invested in victim support services, and work to put in place a new victim helpline was continuing.
A spokesperson said: “This government is fixing the prison crisis it inherited – building 14,000 more prison places and reforming sentencing so we can always lock up dangerous criminals. Without this decisive action, prisons will run out of space entirely as early as November and we will be unable to lock up serious offenders at all.”
Amelia Handy, the head of policy at Rape Crisis England & Wales, said: “Many of the women and girls we support have waited years for their cases to get to court and sentencing is already very rarely representative of the harm caused. For victims and survivors to be told their abusers will serve even less time in prison feels unjust and unfair.”
