What Happens When Britain’s Prisons are Full? Do We Offer Early Release to Murderers and Rapists?

Britain’s prisons are full — and thousands of offenders are being released earlier than expected to create space.

But who is being let out, how much of their sentence are they actually serving, and what happens when prison capacity begins to dictate justice?

In this episode, we examine Britain’s overcrowding crisis and the emergency early-release schemes introduced by the government. We also look in detail at the devastating killing of PC Andrew Harper, the sentences handed to the three men responsible, his widow Lissie Harper’s campaign for Harper’s Law, and why the possibility of early release has caused renewed outrage.

Are victims’ families being failed? Is the public being placed at risk? And does a prison sentence still mean what people believe it does?

Because when Britain runs out of cells, someone has to be released.

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