Justice Minister Jake Richards has come under fire after suggesting it should be seen as a success that grooming gang offenders are being sent to prison “at all.”
His comments came after Tory MP Katie Lam challenged him over concerns that serious offenders could be released early under the Government’s sentencing plans.
Richards made the remarks while defending Labour’s prison-building programme, which he described as the largest expansion of prison capacity since the Victorian era.
Raising the issue in Parliament, Lam pointed to a recent case in West Yorkshire where grooming gang members were jailed for raping and abusing three girls, the youngest of whom was just 12 years old.
She said: “Abbas Khalji was sentenced to only seven years for rape. Mohammad Ishtiaq Hussain received just eight years. Before long, these vile men will be back on the streets of the same communities they terrorised.
“The idea that the Government could reduce their time behind bars even further is deeply alarming.
“Can the minister assure this House that everyone involved in grooming and rape gang offences will at least serve the full length of their already far too short sentences?”
In response, Richards said he would be willing to review the specific case with the relevant MP.
He added: “We need to make sure we have enough prison places so that those who commit these serious offences serve time in prison at all.”
Richards said this goal was supported by the Sentencing Act alongside what he called the biggest prison-building programme in more than a century.
His response sparked immediate backlash, with Lam later posting on X that the minister appeared to suggest the public should be grateful offenders were jailed in the first place.
Kieran Mullan also raised concerns in Parliament, pressing Richards on how dangerous offenders would be managed.
Richards replied that those convicted of serious crimes must face the full force of the law, adding that offenders released into the community would be subject to strict licence conditions.
He said measures would include closer probation supervision for high-risk offenders, exclusion zones, electronic tagging, round-the-clock tracking and curfews.
Calling it the largest expansion of tagging ever introduced, Richards said the system would help monitor dangerous offenders and protect the public.
He added that any offender whose risk became unmanageable in the community could be recalled to prison.
The controversy comes as Justice Secretary David Lammy prepares to introduce legal changes allowing some criminals convicted of serious offences to qualify for early release for the first time.
Prisoners will first be assessed based on behaviour in custody, with anyone committing serious rule breaches barred from early release.
Under the new rules, offenders convicted of crimes such as burglary, theft, assault and repeat shoplifting could be released after serving just one-third of their sentence, down from the current 40 percent threshold.
The first wave of around 700 prisoners is expected to be released in September, with similar numbers freed each month for the following nine months as part of a phased rollout.
The Ministry of Justice says the policy is necessary to ease severe prison overcrowding.
Meanwhile, former Labour safeguarding minister Jess Phillips is among those calling for anyone convicted of serious sexual crimes against children to be excluded from early release entirely.
