\n<\/p>\n
Victims of crime have accused ministers of making \u201ccheap jokes\u201d about releasing prisoners early after Wes Streeting and Shabana Mahmood were caught on camera \u201cribbing\u201d about the scheme.<\/p>\n
In a video, the new justice secretary, Alex Norris, can be seen walking towards Mahmood and Streeting, the new defence secretary, who can be heard calling Norris \u201cthe enemy now\u201d, while Mahmood responds \u201cno he\u2019s not\u201d.<\/p>\n
<\/span>\u2018He\u2019s going to let them all out\u2019: Wes Streeting caught joking about prisoner release on hot mic<\/span><\/p>\n In the recording, published by the news website Guido Fawkes, Streeting says: \u201cHe wants to let them all out\u201d \u2013 an apparent reference to the government\u2019s plans for the early release of some prisoners, while laughter can be heard.<\/p>\n Streeting and the home secretary, Mahmood, have apologised for the comments caught on the hot mic, with each saying the early release scheme was a \u201cserious issue\u201d.<\/p>\n In a post on social media, Streeting wrote: \u201cI hope everyone can see there was no ill intent behind this ribbing of the new justice secretary \u2013 it was a reference to an old [Theresa] May\/[Ken] Clarke joke. But I appreciate these are very serious issues and am sorry for any offence inadvertently caused by this moment of levity.\u201d<\/p>\n The home secretary wrote: \u201cI think everyone can see there was no ill intent behind this ribbing of the new lord chancellor \u2013 a role I once filled and which comes with immense challenges thanks to the vandalism inflicted on our justice system by the last Conservative government.<\/p>\n \u201cBut I appreciate this is an extremely serious issue and do not want anyone to mistake this moment of levity for a lack of serious intent.\u201d<\/p>\n In 2017, Theresa May said of the former conservative justice secretary Ken Clarke: \u201cWhen I was home secretary, I used to say: \u2018I locked \u2019em up and he let \u2019em out\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n But victims have reacted angrily to the comments after the victims\u2019 commissioner and the domestic abuse commissioner made a rare coordinated intervention to warn the government about the early release scheme, which they say will put abuse victims at risk.<\/p>\n Hundreds of offenders will start being released early under the new Sentencing Act from September. Unlike the emergency measures in the early months of the Labour government, in which tens of thousands of prisoners were released as prisons ran out of space, the new sentencing law includes no exemptions for prisoners convicted of serious crimes, domestic abuse or terrorism.<\/p>\n The victims\u2019 commissioner, Claire Waxman, has written to Andy Burnham and Norris, urging them to look again at the early release scheme and make it the \u201cnumber one priority in their inbox\u201d as victims continue to learn of early release plans.<\/p>\n <\/span>Claire Waxman, the victims\u2019 commissioner, has urged Andy Burnham and Alex Norris to look again at the early release scheme and make it the \u2018number one priority in their inbox\u2019.<\/span> Photograph: Linda Nylind\/The Guardian<\/p>\n Ciara Bergman, the chief executive of Rape Crisis England and Wales, said: \u201cWhilst we all make unfortunate comments from time to time, the early release of dangerous and convicted rapists and other criminals is obviously of serious concern for survivors. For them, this is no laughing matter \u2013 in fact, it may be a matter of life or death.\u201d<\/p>\n Jade Belgrove, who has waived her anonymity as a child rape survivor, said her life was on hold while she waited to learn when her abuser would be released. \u201cI am furious they think our pain is a cheap joke,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s just awful to be honest, we are made to feel like we\u2019re considered a joke with this new law passing, then to actually see them on camera physically laughing at the pain we are facing just causes more heartbreak and embarrassment.\u201d<\/p>\n Belgrove said she would also present a letter to Burnham and Norris, highlighting victims\u2019 fears. \u201cI want them to make the right decision and show us this is no laughing matter and reverse the law before it\u2019s too late,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Earlier this week, Debbie Adlam, the mother of the police officer Andrew Harper, said the potential release of the men responsible for her son\u2019s death was an insult. Harper died after being dragged behind a getaway car while trying to stop thieves stealing a quad bike.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m thinking about my son every moment of every day, and then this,\u201d Adlam told the Telegraph. \u201cThe insult is beyond anything able to be put into words. It makes me feel sick. Andrew\u2019s life doesn\u2019t get to come back.\u201d<\/p>\n Writing on social media, the Conservative leader, Kemi Badenoch, said: \u201cWhile Andy Burnham\u2019s cabinet are joking about letting criminals out of prison early, Conservatives are listening to victims and will continue to fight this disgusting policy.\u201d<\/p>\n Speaking on Wednesday, the transport secretary, Heidi Alexander, said it was right that Streeting had apologised. She added that she had worked with Mahmood when she was justice secretary and said: \u201cI know the seriousness with which she approached these issues.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Victims of crime have accused ministers of making \u201ccheap jokes\u201d about releasing prisoners early after Wes Streeting and Shabana Mahmood were caught on camera \u201cribbing\u201d about the scheme. In a video, the new justice secretary, Alex Norris, can be seen walking towards Mahmood and Streeting, the new defence secretary, who can be heard calling Norris<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":51334,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[2124,7325,4516,442,5910,2282,11856,167,12922,284,4141,1225],"class_list":{"0":"post-51333","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-crime-justice","8":"tag-accused","9":"tag-cheap","10":"tag-criminal","11":"tag-early","12":"tag-jokes","13":"tag-justice","14":"tag-mahmood","15":"tag-making","16":"tag-prisoner","17":"tag-release","18":"tag-scheme","19":"tag-streeting"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51333","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=51333"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51333\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/51334"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=51333"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=51333"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=51333"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}