Criminal freed from jail early because of overcrowding is accused of rape

A criminal allegedly committed rape shortly after being released early from jail as part of a government scheme to tackle overcrowding, it emerged today.

More than 25,000 convicted offenders have been freed up to 18 days early since the controversial system was introduced a year ago in a desperate bid to ease the prison overcrowding crisis - and have gone on to commit hundreds of extra crimes while they would otherwise have been behind bars.

The Ministry of Justice gave no further details of the alleged rape, but confirmed a total four prisoners freed early stand accused of carrying out six sex offences.

A spokeswoman said: 'Any offending carried out by an offender during the End Of Custody Licence (ECL) period is regrettable.

'However, just one per cent of those released on ECL so far have been notified to us as allegedly committing offences during the ECL period.

'Prisoners with a current conviction for serious violent offences and registered sex offenders are specifically excluded from ECL.

'All prisoners released on ECL would have been released anyway in a maximum of 18 days' time.'

Last December, it was revealed that one prisoner released early under the ECL scheme had gone on to murder his girlfriend.

It has also emerged that criminals released early from prison under the scheme are being paid £2.6million a year by the taxpayer in subsistence and housing benefits to cover the days they are not housed and fed in jail.

As well as being freed to walk the streets early, criminals are being paid an average of £130 each when they leave prison - the standard release grant of £47 given to all released inmates topped up with £80 or more in additional subsistence and housing payments to cover the days when they would have been fed and housed at public expense in prison.

In the first nine months of the early release scheme, introduced last June, the Ministry of Justice handed out more than £1.9million in subsistence payments to 23,716 criminals benefiting from early release - on top of £1.1million in release payments.

If the grants continued at the same rate, the payments will top £4.1million by the time of the scheme's first anniversary on Sunday, including £2.6million in extra benefits for early release.

Opposition critics accused ministers of 'adding insult to injury' for British taxpayers.

The figures emerged as probation officials revealed that rules banning violent criminals from the early release scheme were being breached, as offenders with a history of domestic violence were regularly slipping through the net.

The probation union Napo said not enough checks were being carried out on inmates being freed early.

Harry Fletcher, assistant general secretary of the union, said: 'The scheme was introduced quickly and is clearly flawed.

'Men convicted of offences of domestic violence are being let out without any accommodation check and returning to their partners' addresses.'

Napo has drawn up a dossier of nearly 30 problem cases highlighted by its members in just the past four days, he added.

In 19 cases the original offence involved domestic violence, and the prisoner was also deemed high risk, while in eight cases a further offence of domestic violence was alleged to have occurred within the 18-day licence period.

He said: 'There is now clear evidence that further assaults are occurring and the men are either being charged with further offences or returned to prison. This is clearly unacceptable.'

He added: 'Further violent offences against women are contrary to the Government's victim strategy and are totally unacceptable.'

Shadow Justice Secretary Nick Herbert said: 'The human cost of this discredited scheme is clear in hundreds of unnecessary victims of crime.

'Now we learn the financial cost to the taxpayer is more than £2 million.  The Government is adding insult to injury by not only releasing prisoners early but actually paying them for the privilege.'

'Releasing prisoners early is wrong in principle, but doing so without individual risk assessments so violent criminals return to the homes of their victims is a licence to cause harm.'

The early release scheme was introduced in a last-ditch bid to ease the prison overcrowding crisis, but it bought ministers only a brief breathing space and jails were soon close to bursting point again.

Justice Secretary Jack Straw defended the extra benefits payments on the grounds that early release prisoners cannot receive normal benefits until their ordinary release date.

Earlier this year it emerged that prison inmates had used a loophole to apply successfully for almost £730,000 of student loans, despite having to give their postal address as a prison - where they are housed and fed at public expense.