Andy Burnham, the UK justice secretary appointed by Prime Minister Keir Starmer, is proceeding with a strategy to run prison capacity to the limit. ^[1] Alex Norris, the Justice Secretary, apologised to victims on 2026-09-01 for the chaos surrounding the Government's early release scheme, which will release criminals after serving 33% of their sentences. ^[2] Nick Timothy, Shadow Justice Secretary, accused Labour of a 'dereliction of duty', calling the early release policy 'dangerous and irresponsible'. ^[3] Under Labour's early release scheme, criminals will be released after serving 33% of their sentence, while those sentenced to four years or more will serve 50% before release. ^[4] David Gauke, the former Conservative justice secretary appointed to review sentencing, warned that running prison capacity at a 'red hot' level is a 'big risk'. ^[5] The Ministry of Justice announced a £110m investment to accelerate the construction of hundreds of new prison places, aiming to add 14,000 extra spaces by 2031. ^[6] The UK government confirmed a U-turn on an early release scheme that would have seen approximately 5,000 prisoners released early from October, down from an initial plan of 6,000. ^[7] Andy Burnham proposed legislation to scrap indefinite Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) sentences, aiming to free up hundreds of prison spaces. ^[8]