THE terms on which a prisoner is released from prison early should involve the input of the victim in the case.
This is the view of Warrington mum Baroness Helen Newlove in her role as victims commissioner.
It comes as Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood told the Commons more emergency measures could be brought in to tackle the prisons overcrowding crisis.
MPs have approved plans to cut the proportion of the sentence inmates must serve behind bars from 50 per cent to 40 per cent.
The temporary move – which does not apply to those convicted of sex offences, terrorism, domestic abuse or some violent offences – is expected to result in 5,500 offenders being released in September and October.
Prisons remain ‘within a few hundred places of collapse’, the Justice Secretary warned, as she said the Government will continue to monitor the situation closely in the coming weeks.
But Baroness Newlove, whose husband Garry was brutally murdered outside their Fearnhead home in 2017 after confronting a teen gang suspected of vandalising his wife’s car, says victims of crime should be allowed to request protective licence conditions if their perpetrator is to be released early from prison.
The Conservative peer argued that victims should have the chance to request licence conditions such as exclusion zones, no-contact conditions and electronic tagging.
She argued that victims’ safety ‘must never, ever be compromised’, and that the Government must not allow this crisis to ‘further erode victims’ confidence within our criminal justice system’.
Baroness Newlove added: “Victim attrition from the justice process is already at a record high.
“I am reassured that changes to the release point in the standard determinate sentence will not apply to those offenders convicted of a sexual offence, stalking, controlling behaviour and coercive behaviours, non-fatal strangulation and who have received over four years for a violent crime.
“However, these exclusions – as welcome as they are, and I understand the limitations of the process –cannot address every potential risk once released.
“This is why it is so important that no early release takes place before appropriate release plans have been put in place.
“This will enable the probation service to manage these offenders effectively and with confidence while they serve their sentence in the community.
“And that, before release, a conversation with the victim takes place, not only to tell them about the change in release date, but to give them an opportunity to request protective licence conditions.”
The Tory peer also welcomed the Labour manifesto pledge for ‘more support for victims of anti-social behaviour’.
Lady Newlove has previously called for victims of persistent anti-social behaviour to be recognised as victims of crimes and granted Victim’s Code rights.
This is because, she argued, their cases are currently treated as ‘low-level’ by agencies like police and housing providers, who often do not take it any further and fail to inform them of their statutory entitlements, such as being referred to victims support services.
Lady Newlove, who became a campaigner after her husband’s murder, said: “In 18 days it will be 17 years since I had to turn my husband’s life-support machine off.
“Garry is not a statistic, neither is every victim and survivor I have met over the years. Every statistic has a human face and represents a human tragedy.”
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