No risk assessment for released prisoners

Tens of thousands of prisoners will be released without any checks on whether they pose a threat to the public.

Up to 25,000 convicts, including burglars, thugs and drug dealers, will be freed early each year without undergoing "risk assessment" - a key plank of the public protection system set up to deal with dangerous criminals.

In addition, probation officials will not be obliged to check whether the addresses provided by the departing felons are genuine, allowing them simply to "disappear".

The revelations, contained in an email from Roger Hill, head of the Probation Directorate, contradict claims by Ministry of Justice officials last week that all convicts would be checked before release.

The email, sent to all 42 chief probation officers in England and Wales and seen by The Sunday Telegraph, reads: "The Probation Service is not required to conduct a risk assessment or an accommodation check for these prisoners prior to their release on ECL (End of Custody Licences)."

The government allowed prisoners out before and within a year more than 1000 crimes had been committed by these people. Those prisoners actually had a risk assessment though. Imagine how many crimes these people will commit when any of them are allowed out.