A convicted armed kidnapper released early from jail today shouted “big up Keir Starmer” as he posed on a new £150,000 Bentley.
Daniel Dowling-Brooks, 29, was freed seven weeks earlier than he had expected from a seven-year sentence for kidnap and grievous bodily harm, which he had been serving at HMP Swaleside on the Isle of Sheppey in Kent.
He was amongst the first of more than 1,200 prisoners serving sentences of five years or more to be released on Tuesday morning under a scheme where they are freed just 40 per cent through their jail terms rather than halfway.
They are the second mass release under the emergency plan announced by ministers days after the general election, as men’s prisons in England and Wales almost ran out of spaces by the August bank holiday weekend.
Another prisoner released from HMP Swaleside thanked Sir Keir Starmer “from the bottom of my heart” and said he had been freed a year earlier than he expected from a four-year jail sentence. A third was picked up in a black Rolls Royce by a group of men in matching hoodies.
‘I love my life’
Surrounded by a group of 10 friends outside the jail, with a strong smell of cannabis in the air, Dowling-Brooks, a father of two, said “I love my life” as he also posed next to a Mercedes G Wagon, priced at £100,000.
He said: “I’m a dad of two so I’m out now and I’m very happy. I’m going to be good. I kidnapped someone who owed my friend money. I tied him up and had him at gunpoint. I beat him up. It was bad but not as bad as they made out.
“I’m so sorry for it though. I’m changed. Big up Keir Starmer, I am delighted to be released early. I am delighted. I can’t wait to go to McDonald’s. That’s where we’re all going now. I’m free and can go wherever I want now. It’s amazing.
“I could not believe they are letting me out this early. I’ve got my girl with me.”
His mother Sarah Dowling-Brooks, who was waiting for him, said: “He’s going to be good now. He has done his time. I’m so happy he is home.”
After embracing a friend after his release at 9am, another released prisoner said: “It’s amazing. I can taste the fresh air. It’s freedom at last. I want to thank Prime Minister Keir Starmer from the bottom of my heart.
“I thought I’d got another year but I am out early. I was in for four years. It was four long years. I’m not telling you what I was in for though.”
A number of men could be seen walking down the road with bin bags slung over their shoulders, one also shaking hands with a security guard, leaving the prison estates on the Isle of Sheppey, which is home to HMP Swaleside, HMP Standford Hill and HMP Elmley.
Another walked out of HMP Elmley, climbed straight into a Ford Focus and drove off. He did not elaborate how the car was waiting for him but said: “It’s amazing to be out. I can’t believe my luck. I’m very grateful.
“I had another year to go. I’m very pleased. I’m going to drive home and see my family now. Everyone is buzzing with excitement to come out. It’s like a party. Nobody can believe their luck. I can’t wait to get down to the pub and have a pint.”
Jamal Simpson, 35, who was serving a five year sentence at HMP Brixton in south London for ABH, was released on Tuesday morning after spending just over two years inside the prison.
He said: “I’m really happy to be released. Everyone inside is happy to be out. I only got told yesterday. I was shocked, very shocked, but in a good way. I’ve got accommodation sorted so I’m all good. It’s a relief to be out.
“I think this early release scheme is a really good idea. I’m thankful to Labour and Keir Starmer. I’ll vote for them for sure.”
‘High level of recalls’
Martin Jones, the chief inspector of probation, warned that the early release of prisoners to tackle overcrowding will be undermined by the “high level of recalls” of offenders to jail.
He said that for every 100 prisoners released in the first quarter of this year, 56 had been recalled to jail because they reoffended or breached their licence.
“My assessment is that there is a significant risk that the amount of space that has been created by the SDS40 [early release] changes will be reduced as a result of the high level of recalls that we have been seeing historically over a number of years,” he said.
Harry, 27, who said he was first sentenced for shoplifting a couple of years ago, was released last month as part of the early release scheme.
He said he was then recalled to Wandsworth prison and on Tuesday was released early for a second time.
He said: “Apart from being drunk and disorderly, and being a k–bhead, I haven’t committed crimes that are worth going to jail for. It’s stupid.”
Shabana Mahmood, the Justice Secretary, said emergency measures, such as releasing prisoners early, “only buys us some time” on prison overcrowding.
“It’s not going to make the problem, the underlying problem, go away, and that is because the demand for prison places is going up by around 4,500 every single year,” she told the BBC.
“It’s why we need to think more long term about how we bring that down, because we cannot build our way out of this crisis.”
She has announced a sentencing review, headed by David Gauke, her Tory predecessor, which aims to ensure that there will be enough space to lock up the most dangerous criminals, encourage offenders to turn their back on crime and expand punishments outside prison.
‘Prisons outside a prison’
Ms Mahmood is drawing up plans for a major expansion of community punishments as an alternative to jail where judges use technology to create virtual “prisons outside a prison”.
Courts would have powers to enforce the virtual prisons through the use of technology such as GPS tags, smart phones and special watches that remind offenders to attend meetings with probation officers, drug treatment courses and work placements.
They are likely to be modelled on the current home detention curfews (HDCs), where prisoners can be freed six months before their scheduled release date to serve the rest of their sentences tagged and barred from leaving their home effectively under “house arrest” between, for example, 7pm and 7am.
Ms Mahmood is expected to announce on Tuesday an immediate expansion of HDCs from six to 12 months. This would mean that a prisoner could be released as little as a quarter of the way through their sentence to serve up to a year of their remaining time tagged at home rather than in jail.
She is also to announce plans to make it easier and quicker for prison and probation officials to re-release offenders re-called to jail for breaching their licence after being freed. At present, it can take up to a year for the parole board to make a decision.
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