Britain's prisons are near capacity, forcing early releases of inmates to avert systemic collapse, a policy the Conservatives criticized in opposition despite relying on it themselves. New PM Andy Burnham has delayed the next round of early releases by a month and signaled he wants to keep two men convicted of manslaughtering police officer Andrew Harper behind bars longer, after pressure from the officer's widow and serving police.
Justice secretary Alex Norris has been tasked with finding a way to accommodate that request without unraveling the broader early-release scheme keeping the system from breaking. Burnham has already carved out exceptions for rapists and some child sex offenders. The Guardian's editorial board warns that case-by-case concessions driven by empathy could erode the policy's basic function while doing nothing to fix the underlying resource shortage.
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