LONDON: Britain’s new Labour government plans to expand the early release of prisoners from September to tackle a jail overcrowding crisis which justice minister Shabana Mahmood said threatened to create “a total breakdown of law and order.”
Prisons in England and Wales have space for only 700 more male inmates and are likely to be full within weeks, after which cells in police stations would need to be used, preventing officers from patrolling the streets.
“We could see looters running amok, smashing in windows, robbing shops and setting neighborhoods alight,” Mahmood said in a speech at a prison in central England, blaming the crisis on her Conservative predecessors.
Under the plan, which is subject to parliamentary approval, most prisoners will become eligible for release after serving 40 percent of their sentences behind bars, down from 50 percent currently.
Prisoners who are let out can be returned to jail if they reoffend or break other terms of their release.
The early release plan would be reviewed in 18 months’ time, Mahmood said. Asked how many would be freed, she said the figure was in the “low thousands” in the short term.
Britain has western Europe’s highest rate of incarceration and prisoner numbers have risen sharply since the pandemic, due to longer sentences, court delays and a requirement for serious offenders to serve at least 65 percent of their sentences behind bars.
Labour, which came to power last week, has used the crisis as an example of the legacy of underfunded public services left by former prime minister Rishi Sunak’s Conservative government.
Mahmood said 10,000 prisoners had been released since October 2023 under a previous emergency scheme which she would scrap to allow for a more systematic program.
Violent offenders sentenced to at least four years, sex offenders and domestic abusers will not be eligible for the early-release program, the justice ministry said.
Britain’s Prison Governors’ Association had said on Thursday that a new government policy was imminent, and welcomed the move.
The Law Society, which represents most lawyers in England and Wales, said the problem reflected long-term cuts to criminal justice funding and the government would need to put appropriate safeguards in place to monitor newly released prisoners.
“The concerns of victims who are having to wait years for justice and then see offenders released early must also be recognized,” Law Society President Nick Emmerson said.
Britain’s justice ministry said an extra 1,000 trainee probation officers would be recruited by March 2025.
However, existing government budget plans — which Labour has said it will largely stick to — foresee real-terms cuts of nearly 3 percent a year over the next four years to a range of public services including justice.
UK plans to release more prisoners early to tackle overcrowding
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UK plans to release more prisoners early to tackle overcrowding
- Prisoners who are let out can be returned to jail if they reoffend or break other terms of their release
UK PM Starmer says first budget won’t undermine growth goal
- Ahead of that budget, Starmer said that, while dealing with that black hole was essential for creating the stability necessary for growth, all decisions would be made against the objective of growth
Elected in July, Starmer has said he has a dire inheritance left by the previous Conservative administration, and new finance minister Rachel Reeves has warned that taxes are likely to rise in her first budget on Oct. 30 because of what she said was a 22 billion pound ($29 billion) black hole in the public finances.
Ahead of that budget, Starmer said that, while dealing with that black hole was essential for creating the stability necessary for growth, all decisions would be made against the objective of growth.
“If it promotes economic growth, it’s in the Yes column; if it inhibits economic growth, then it’s in the No column,” Starmer told reporters on a trip to Italy on Monday.
“And because I believe that stability is vital for economic growth — I don’t think we’re going to get economic growth if we don’t stabilize the economy — we’re going to do the really hard stuff now.”
Labour has committed to a fiscal rule that day-to-day costs are met by revenues and debt must be falling as a share of the economy within five years under a budget’s forecast.
Asked if he would tweak fiscal rules to promote growth, amid concern from some economists about underinvestment in the economy, Starmer said it was a matter for the budget but strong fiscal rules were important.
“I’ve always thought it’s important to borrow to invest,” Starmer said, though he warned he didn’t want a repeat of the unfunded budget measures that sparked a crisis that forced Conservative Prime Minister Liz Truss from office in 2022.
“Unfunded commitments for spending are just as bad (as unfunded tax cuts) and likely to have the same impact on the economy.” ($1 = 0.7573 pound)
Climate change will escalate child health crisis due to malnutrition, says Gates
- “Around 90 percent of the negative effect of climate change works through the food system. Where you have years where your crops basically fail because of drought or too much rain,” he said
LONDON: Malnutrition is the world’s worst child health crisis and climate change will only make things more severe, according to Microsoft-co-founder turned philanthropist Bill Gates.
Between now and 2050, 40 million more children will have stunted growth and 28 million more will suffer from wasting, the most extreme and irreversible forms of malnutrition, as a result of climate change, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation said in a report on Tuesday.
“Unless you get the right food, broadly, both in utero and in your early years, you can never catch up,” Gates told Reuters in an online interview last week, referring to a child’s physical and mental capacity, both of which are held back by a lack of good nutrition. Children without enough of the right food are also more vulnerable to diseases like measles and malaria, and early death.
“Around 90 percent of the negative effect of climate change works through the food system. Where you have years where your crops basically fail because of drought or too much rain,” he said.
Gates was speaking ahead of the publication of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation’s annual Goalkeepers report, which tracks progress on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), around reducing poverty and improving health. The report includes the projections above.
In 2023, the World Health Organization estimated that 148 million children experienced stunting and 45 million experienced wasting.
Gates called for more funding for nutrition, particularly through a new platform led by UNICEF aiming to co-ordinate donor financing, the Child Nutrition Fund, as well as more research. But he said the money should not be taken away from other proven initiatives, like routine childhood vaccinations, for this purpose.
“(Nutrition) was under-researched ... it’s eye-opening how important this is,” he added, saying initiatives like food fortification or improving access to prenatal multi-vitamins could be as effective as some vaccines in improving child health in the world’s poorest countries.
The Gates Foundation said in January it plans to spend more on global health this year than ever before — $6.8 billion – as wider funding efforts stall.
Large turnout is expected in a crucial vote for local government in Indian-controlled Kashmir
- Many people boycotted elections for decades in protest against Indian rule
SRINAGAR: In Indian-controlled Kashmir, many people boycotted elections for decades in protest against Indian rule. But in the run-up to the local election beginning Wednesday, many are willing to buck that trend and use their vote to deny Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s party the power to form a local government in the disputed region.
The vote is the first in a decade, and the first since Modi’s Hindu nationalist government in 2019 scrapped the Muslim-majority region’s special status and downgraded the former state to a federally governed territory. The move — which largely resonated in India and among Modi supporters — was mostly opposed in the region as an assault on its identity and autonomy.
“Boycotts will not work in this election,” said Abdul Rashid, a resident in southern Kashmir’s Shangus village. “There is a desperate need to end the onslaught of changes coming from there (India).”
The election will allow residents to have their own truncated government and a local parliament called an assembly, instead of remaining under New Delhi’s direct rule. The region’s last assembly election was held in 2014, after which Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party for the first time ruled the region in a coalition with the local Peoples Democratic Party.
But the government collapsed in 2018 after BJP withdrew from the coalition. Polls in the past have been marked with violence, boycotts and vote-rigging, even though India called them a victory over separatism.
This time, New Delhi says the polls are ushering in democracy after more than three decades of strife. However, many locals see the vote as an opportunity not only to elect their own representatives but also to register their protest against the 2019 changes.
Polling will be held in three phases. The second and third phases are scheduled for Sept. 25 and Oct. 1. Votes will be counted on Oct. 8, with results expected that day.
Kashmir is divided between nuclear-armed rivals India and Pakistan. Since 1947, the neighbors have fought two wars over its control, after British rule of the subcontinent ended with the creation of the two countries. Both claim the Himalayan territory in its entirety.
In 2019, the Indian-controlled part of the region was divided into two territories, Ladakh and Jammu-Kashmir, ruled directly by New Delhi. The region has been on edge since it lost its flag, criminal code, constitution and inherited protections on land and jobs.
Multiple pro-India Kashmiri parties, many of whose leaders were among thousands jailed in 2019, are contesting the election, promising to reverse those changes. Some lower-rung separatist leaders, who in the past dismissed polls as illegitimate exercises under military occupation, are also running for office as independent candidates.
India’s main opposition Congress party, which favors restoration of the region’s statehood, has formed an alliance with the National Conference, the region’s largest party. Modi’s BJP has a strong political base in Hindu-dominated areas of Jammu that largely favor the 2019 changes but is weak in the Kashmir Valley, the heartland of anti-India rebellion.
“Our main concern is governance through local representatives. It will be good for us if the BJP forms the government here as it’s already in power at the center,” said Chuni Lal, a shopkeeper in Jammu city.
The vote will see a limited transition of power from New Delhi to the local assembly, with a chief minister at the top heading a council of ministers. But Kashmir will continue to be a “Union Territory” — a region directly controlled by the federal government — with India’s Parliament remaining its main legislator.
The elected government will have partial control over areas like education, culture and taxation but not over the police. Kashmir’s statehood must be restored for the new government to have powers similar to other states in India. However, it will not have the special powers it enjoyed before the 2019 changes.
Last year, India’s Supreme Court endorsed the government’s 2019 changes but ordered New Delhi to conduct local polls by the end of September and restore Kashmir’s statehood. Modi’s government has promised to restore statehood after the polls but has not specified a timeline.
Elections in Indian-held Kashmir have remained a sensitive issue. Many believe they have been rigged multiple times in favor of local politicians who subsequently became India’s regional enforcers, used to incrementally dilute laws that offered Kashmir a special status and legitimize New Delhi’s militaristic policies.
In the mid-1980s, the region’s dissident political groups emerged as a formidable force against Kashmir’s pro-India political elite but lost the 1987 election widely believed to have been rigged. A public backlash followed, with some young activists taking up arms and demanding a united Kashmir, either under Pakistani rule or independent of both.
India insists the insurgency is Pakistan-sponsored terrorism, a charge Islamabad denies. Tens of thousands of people have been killed in the fighting, which most Kashmiri Muslims consider a legitimate freedom struggle.
Noor Ahmed Baba, a political scientist, said the outcome of the polls “is not going to change the dynamics of the Kashmir dispute” since it will end with a largely powerless legislature, but will be crucial for optics.
“If local parties win, it is going to put some pressure on the central government and perhaps delegitimize from a democratic perspective what has been done to Kashmir. But a BJP win can allow the party to consolidate and validate 2019 changes in the local legislature,” Baba said.
India’s ruling BJP is not officially aligned with any local party, but many politicians believe it is tacitly supporting some parties and independent candidates who privately agree with its stances.
The National Conference party says Modi’s BJP is trying to manipulate the election through independent candidates. “Their (BJP’s) concerted effort is to divide the vote in Kashmir,” said Tanvir Sadiq, a candidate from the National Conference.
The BJP’s national secretary, meanwhile, says his party’s former ally, the Peoples Democratic Party, and the National Conference are being supported by former militants. Ram Madhav said at a recent rally that they want to return the region to its “trouble-filled days.”
For residents whose civil liberties have been curbed, the election is also a chance to choose representatives they hope will address their main issues.
Many say that while the election won’t solve the dispute over Kashmir, it will give them a rare window to express their frustration with Indian control.
“We need some relief and end of bureaucratic rule here,” said Rafiq Ahmed, a taxi driver in the region’s main city of Srinagar.
Pakistani pleads not guilty in alleged Iran plot to kill US official
- “As these terrorism and murder for hire charges against Asif Merchant demonstrate, we will continue to hold accountable those who would seek to carry out Iran’s lethal plotting against Americans,” US Attorney General Merrick Garland said previously
NEW YORK: A Pakistani man with alleged ties to Iran pleaded not guilty Monday to plotting to assassinate a US official in retaliation for the American military killing of Revolutionary Guards commander Qassem Soleimani, prosecutors said Wednesday.
Asif Raza Merchant, 46, allegedly sought to hire a hitman to assassinate a politician or a government official in the United States, the Justice Department and prosecutors said in a statement.
A court document showed that Merchant pleaded not guilty to all counts, with a next hearing scheduled for November 6, 2024.
Soleimani, the head of Iran’s foreign military operations, was killed in a US drone strike in Baghdad in January 2020. Iranian officials have repeatedly vowed to avenge his killing.
“As these terrorism and murder for hire charges against Asif Merchant demonstrate, we will continue to hold accountable those who would seek to carry out Iran’s lethal plotting against Americans,” US Attorney General Merrick Garland said previously.
The intended victim was not identified but the Garland has previously said no evidence has emerged to link Merchant with the July 13 assassination attempt against former president Donald Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania.
FBI Director Christopher Wray has said the Pakistani national had “close ties to Iran” and that the alleged murder-for-hire plot was “straight out of the Iranian playbook.”
Another FBI official said the assassins Merchant allegedly tried to hire were in fact undercover FBI agents.
“After spending time in Iran, Merchant arrived in the United States from Pakistan and contacted a person he believed could assist him with the scheme to kill a politician or government official,” the Justice Department said in a statement.
“That person reported Merchant’s conduct to law enforcement and became a confidential source.”
Merchant was arrested on July 12 as he planned to leave the country.
Iran’s mission to the United Nations said in August it had “not received any report on this from the American government.”
“But it is clear that this method is contrary to the Iranian government’s policy of pursuing Soleimani’s killer,” the mission said in a statement carried by Iran’s official IRNA news agency.
US still working on revised proposal for Gaza ceasefire deal, State Dept says
- Hamas said last week it is ready to implement a ceasefire based on the previous proposal without any new conditions from any party
WASHINGTON: The United States is still working with mediators Egypt and Qatar to present a revised proposal for a ceasefire in the war in Gaza, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said on Monday.
Officials have for weeks said a new proposal would be presented soon for a deal that would include the release of hostages taken from Israel by Palestinian militants Hamas when the war began on Oct. 7.
Miller told reporters Washington was working with the mediators on what the proposal will contain and ensuring that “it’s a proposal that can get the parties to an ultimate agreement.”
“I don’t have a timetable for you other than to say that we are working expeditiously to try to develop that proposal,” Miller added.
Talks over months have so far failed to reach a deal to end war, now in its twelfth month, even after US President Joe Biden in June publicly laid out a proposal that Israel had agreed to.
Hamas said last week it is ready to implement a ceasefire based on the previous proposal without any new conditions from any party.
US officials say much of the deal has been agreed upon, but negotiations have been ongoing to clear two main obstacles: Israel’s demand to keep its forces in the Philadelphi corridor to maintain a buffer between Gaza and Egypt, and the specifics of an exchange of hostages for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.
Miller confirmed those remained the main sticking points.
