Ministers are facing a backlash from victims and domestic abuse watchdogs over planned changes to prison recall which would see some offenders released within a month to free up jail space.
Under emergency measures announced by the Justice Secretary, some criminals serving sentences between one and four years will be returned to custody only for a fixed 28-day period.
Offenders are recalled to prison if they commit another offence or breach licence conditions, such as by missing probation appointments, when they are released early but remain on licence.
Shabana Mahmood said the changes were necessary to curb overcrowding as she warned jails are on track to be down to “zero capacity” by November.
The plans were criticised by victims commissioner Baroness Newlove and domestic abuse commissioner Dame Nicole Jacobs, who said lives would be in danger as a result of the decision.
Baroness Newlove said: “Victims will understandably feel unnerved and bewildered by today’s announcement.
“If the Probation Service, the secretary of state and the Parole Board have all judged these individuals to pose a risk of harm to the public, then reducing time served on recall can only place victims and the wider public at an unnecessary risk of harm.”
Dame Nicole called for the proposal to be scrapped, saying: “I cannot stress (enough) the lack of consideration for victims’ safety and how many lives are being put in danger because of this proposed change.
“You are not sent to prison for four years if you do not pose significant risk to your victim or the wider public.
“Re-releasing them back into the community after 28 days is simply unacceptable.”
Shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick said Labour was “making the problem worse”.
He said: “Under Labour’s new rules, instead of being recalled to serve the rest of their sentence, they’ll be given a fixed-term recall of a pitiful 28 days.
“They are then released, with no reassessment of risk or Parole Board oversight.
“That is not justice. It’s a recipe for the breakdown of law and order.
“By telling prisoners that they will never serve their full sentence, even if they reoffend, the Justice Secretary has removed an important deterrent.”
Andrea Coomber KC, chief executive of charity the Howard League for Penal Reform, said the recall change is a “logical step to take” when the recall population is rising so quickly, and said the upcoming sentencing review is a chance for “a lasting solution to this mess”.
“There is no time to lose, and only bold reform will do,” she said.
Ministers say the scheme will exclude people convicted of serious violent or sexual offences, as well as terrorist and national security crimes.
The exclusions will focus on offenders managed under Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements (Mappa) at Level 2 or 3, the PA news agency understands.
Mappa is used to manage certain sexual and violent offenders in the community, with only the most complex or high-risk individuals put at Level 2 or 3.
It is hoped the emergency measures will free up 1,400 prison places and “buy time” before sentencing reforms expected to come into force next spring.
Legislation to bring in the changes is expected to be introduced in the coming weeks.
Ms Mahmood also announced three new prisons will be built, starting this year, as part of a “record prison expansion”, but admitted “we cannot build our way out of this crisis”.
“The consequences of failing to act are unthinkable, but they must be understood,” she said.
“If our prisons overflow, courts cancel trials, police halt their arrests, crime goes unpunished and we reach a total breakdown of law and order.”
The latest weekly prison population in England and Wales was 88,087, 434 below the last peak of 88,521 inmates on September 6, recorded just before the Government began freeing thousands of prisoners early as part of efforts to curb overcrowding.
