Burnham said he will review plans to release former inmates.

Premier Andy Burnham has said he will review the early release policy.

“I can’t say I can change the policy completely, but I will look at it in detail before we go forward,” he told reporters in Bath.

He admitted that there were “pressures on prisons” and that the lack of investment in prisons in the past had created an “unacceptable situation”.

There were tens of thousands of prisoners. Get out of prison to create more space in prisons From September 2024.

His comments came after police officer Andrew Harper’s mother She felt it was an “insult” that her son’s two killers could be released early.

Jesse Cole and Albert Bowers were sentenced to 13 years in prison for manslaughter but could be released early under new sentencing laws.

Prison overcrowding has been a problem for several years, and successive governments have released prisoners early in an effort to free up space.

The Sentencing Act, passed by Sir Keir Starmer’s government earlier this year, is designed to ease the pressure on prisons and reduce the amount of time some offenders spend in prison before being released.

“I want to make sure that everything is seen before this policy goes forward, and I can assure you that I will look at every part of this with the justice secretary,” Burnham said.