Prison governors have voiced alarm at the 'revolving door' of criminals released early - as a minister defended Andy Burnham's latest scheme.

Some 4,500 prisoners are due to be let out earlier than planned over the next 10 months in a desperate bid to ease strain on the system.

Over the weekend the PM changed the policy yet again to keep PC Andrew Harper's killers behind bars.

However, there are warnings that his response to a furious outcry will open cell doors for hundreds of dangerous offenders.

In a round of broadcast interviews this morning, justice minister Alex Davies-Jones acknowledged that the tweak will mean prison places are going to be 'very tight'.

But she argued that Mr Burnham had 'kept pushing' to limit releases, despite saying earlier in the summer that he had done as much as he could. 

Prison governors have been making clear their dismay at the 'revolving door' that has developed since the 2024 early release push to ease overcrowding. 

One from a prison in the north of England told the BBC that the latest proposals are 'all short-term solutions and we need space now'.

'Providing additional cells in existing prisons will mean more prison staff needed to monitor that - it's not easy,' they said.

They added: 'We see the same people coming back after being released early and reoffending again, or breaking their [release] rules.'

Another governor in the north of England told the BBC the criminal justice system 'will grind to a halt' unless overcrowding is eased.

'You release someone to serve the rest of their sentence in the community and you think ''now I have some extra room'', but then they're back again and you just go round in circles.

'It's a big problem in the [men's prisons] and you worry that this is what will happen again when all these new people are let out.'

One prison boss in the Midlands described the situation as a 'revolving door'. 

Figures released last month showed record numbers of criminals were being recalled to prison in England and Wales.

Some 51,419 prisoners were put back behind bars in the year to March after breaching the terms of their licence, according to Ministry of Justice (MoJ) data.

That was up 28 per cent from 40,259 in the previous 12 months.

Some 70,066 inmates had been freed early since September 2024, when the Government brought in emergency measures in a bid to tackle the overcrowding crisis.

Some 5,000 prisoners were due to be released early from next month, down from 6,000 after ministers intervened to exempt rapists and serious child sex offenders. 

But in yet another U-turn on the controversial scheme, Mr Burnham said yesterday that anyone convicted of unlawful killing will be excluded.

To make the change, ministers are finding extra cell spaces by releasing inmates serving indefinite terms under imprisonment for public protection sentences (IPPs) – which were given to offenders considered a significant risk to the public between 2005 and 2012.

Current and former ministers warned that the solution could pose a far higher risk to the public because many IPP prisoners have been assessed as too dangerous to release.