Adam Harmsworth, Napo National Vice-Chair (personal capacity)

Andy Burnham is pushing ahead with the plan to release 5,000 people from prison early. The only reason this is being considered is because of overcrowding in the underfunded prison service. The problem is these 5,000 people are then being released into a deeply underfunded probation service!

Like Keir Starmer before him, Burnham is hoping probation workers will simply shoulder the extra work, and prison workers will keep the overcrowded prisons afloat in the meantime.

Probation trade union Napo has announced that in an indicative ballot, 90.76% voted for industrial action on workloads, which the union says was on a turnout “well within the parameters to give us the confidence that we could follow up this result with a successful formal ballot.”

Many probation officers and other staff work over their hours, some are constantly anxious that they are missing service users or making serious mistakes because they are tasked with looking after an unsafe number of people. They are forced to take on this work because neither Tory nor Labour governments have given probation and prisons the funding they need.

Burnham has promised that nobody sentenced for rape, serious child sex or grooming offences will be part of the release. Domestic violence support groups have spoken out because the scheme could include prisoners in jail for domestic abuse offences. With probation already over-stretched, there is a far greater risk that they will not be properly monitored, and put domestic abuse victims at risk all over again.

Even if Burnham decides to exclude domestic violence perpetrators from the scheme, it won’t fix the serious problems of starved probation and prison services. Burnham already paused the early release once, and that was a missed opportunity to commit to provide the funding that probation and prisons need to properly and safely support those in their care. The capitalist press have named the early release scheme ‘Burnham’s first big test’, and this new government is proving in its actions that it is just like the last. Instead of ending 40 years of neoliberalism as Burnham promised, he is continuing its austerity diet of underfunding.

It is those policies that have made crime worse and communities less safe. Austerity is driving poverty and desperation, increasing the risk of crime, and then starving the justice system of funding it needs to support victims and stop offenders.

Jobs, homes and services

Britain has the resources to meet the needs of all. We could have jobs and decent housing for all, and public services that actually work without being over-stretched. This alone would hugely reduce crime and start to build a safer and fairer society, but it will not be possible under capitalism.

A socialist society where the wealth hoarded by the super-rich can be used for common good, can actually reduce crime, create a safer society, and fully fund a justice system run for protection and rehabilitation.

Whether early release is carried out or not, prisons and probation need serious funding in the short term. That can only be won from the Burnham government with a campaign of protest and industrial action. The justice unions should work together and lead in this fight, working with charities and campaign groups concerned about the state of the early release scheme.

Probation and prison unions should also support and champion the PCS union’s motion to the 2026 Trades Union Congress, which calls for a TUC-led demonstration against austerity. These are vital steps to build the opposition to austerity, and to build up the strength of the working class in Britain. The working class is the force in our society which can win the socialist system that we need.