By IRNA
London : Over 18,000 prisoners have been released early under emergency measures introduced last summer to tackle the country’s chronic problem of overcrowded jails, according to the latest government figures.
In January, 2,386 inmates were let out early, bringing the total number of early-release offenders in England and Wales since last June to 18,583.
News of the releases comes after the prison population reached a new record high of 82,180 earlier this month, more than the current jail capacities.
The emergency measures, allowing prisoners to serve the final 18 days of their sentence in the community to free up cells, were introduced last summer when an additional 400 police cells were also set aside to house convicted criminals.
In December, Justice Secretary Jack Straw announced plans to build three “super-prisons” each housing about 2,500 offenders to help alleviate the rapidly expanding prison population.
He said the jail program would take total places up to 96,000 by 2014.
According to the BBC, of those freed under the scheme, 673 have been called back for not complying with the conditions of their release, but 124 have not surrendered themselves and are still on the run.