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Matt Dathan

@mattdathan.bsky.social
540 followers 159 following 128 posts

Home Affairs Editor at The Times

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Matt Dathan @mattdathan.bsky.social · 07/08/2025
Will the UK-France migrant returns deal stop the boats? Latest podcast from TheStory by @thetimes.com: open.spotify.com/episode/4W7X...
open.spotify.com
Will the UK-France migrant deal stop the boats?
The Story · Episode
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Matt Dathan @mattdathan.bsky.social · 30/07/2025
Excl: Some of the UK's most prominent lawyers have warned Starmer that his pledge to recognise Palestine breaks international law Lord Pannick, who represented the government against claims the Rwanda scheme breached international law, is among 40 peers who have written to the AG t.co/2naeSnZhhA
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Matt Dathan @mattdathan.bsky.social · 20/07/2025
Excl: Europeans to be allowed to move to the UK for more than a year under EU youth mobility scheme: www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/...
thetimes.com
Young Europeans may be allowed to stay in UK for longer than a year
A minister has opened the door for a reciprocal youth mobility scheme that could add to net migration figures despite concerns from the Home Office
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Matt Dathan @mattdathan.bsky.social · 01/06/2025
New: 1,194 migrants crossed the Channel in 18 boats yesterday, the Home Office has said. That's the highest daily figure so far this year and takes the total number to 14,811, the highest ever record in the first five months of a year and 42% higher than this time last year.
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Matt Dathan @mattdathan.bsky.social · 01/06/2025
The French authorities prevented just 184 of the roughly 1,400 migrants who attempted crossing the Channel yesterday: www.premar-manche.gouv.fr/communiques-...
premar-manche.gouv.fr
Bilan des opérations d'assistance et de sauvetages de 184 migrants dans le détroit du pas de Calais - Préfecture maritime de la Manche et de la mer du Nord
Préfecture maritime de la Manche et de la mer du Nord. Présentation de la préfecture et description de ses missions. Publication des avis nautiques et des communiqués de la préfecture.
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Matt Dathan @mattdathan.bsky.social · 30/05/2025
EXCL: Keir Starmer is pressing ahead with migrant 'return hubs' in the Balkans despite MI6 warning they could be hijacked by Russian spies: www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/...
thetimes.com
Migrant return hubs ‘could let Russian spies into Europe’
MI6 has raised concerns about Keir Starmer’s proposals to send failed asylum seekers to the Balkans
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Matt Dathan @mattdathan.bsky.social · 25/05/2025
Excl: Britain to ask Kosovo to take rejected asylum seekers as part of Keir Starmer's new plan for 'return hubs': www.thetimes.com/article/206a...
thetimes.com
UK to ask Kosovo to take migrants as part of ‘return hubs’ plan
The president of the Balkan nation has signalled that it would be open to hosting one of Britain’s ‘migration hubs’ but talks have not yet started
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Matt Dathan @mattdathan.bsky.social · 23/05/2025
Why mandatory chemical castration will never happen in the UK and how it was used by the government as a cynical dead cat strategy to distract from hugely unpopular measures to release killers and rapists: www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/...
thetimes.com
How would chemical castration policy work — and could it ever go ahead?
The government is said to be considering mandatory drug treatment to suppress libido for some sex offenders, but critics say it violates medical ethics
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Matt Dathan @mattdathan.bsky.social · 20/05/2025
Excl: Britain faces "horrible reality” of releasing prisoners early as part of long-term fix to the prisons crisis, Shabana Mahmood admits. Full and frank interview with @thetimes.com as she prepares to announce major shakeup of sentencing laws on Thursday: www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/...
thetimes.com
Shabana Mahmood: release offenders early or face collapse of justice system
The justice secretary issued a stark warning that, without reforms to sentencing, Britain’s prisons will reach capacity
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Matt Dathan @mattdathan.bsky.social · 20/05/2025
Excl: 40,000 criminals will be electronically monitored at any one time as part of a mass expansion of tagging technology to be at the heart of sentencing reforms Shabana Mahmood has secured £700m from Treasury to quadruple the number of criminals tagged www.thetimes.com/article/b63c...
thetimes.com
40,000 criminals to be tagged in sentencing law overhaul
Shabana Mahmood, the justice secretary, has secured £700m to pay for monitoring devices
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Matt Dathan @mattdathan.bsky.social · 10/05/2025
Why the OBR isn't fully accounting for the impact of immigration on the public finances, according to the Home Office, immigration experts and the Prime Minister's chief of staff: www.thetimes.com/article/b69a...
thetimes.com
How do you measure migrant costs? The question the OBR can’t answer
Net migration boosts the books, but experts say key long-term costs are missing from official forecasts
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Matt Dathan @mattdathan.bsky.social · 10/05/2025
Other lines: - PM's aides have set an informal net migration target of 200k by next election. - Immigration White Paper will also set out plans to restrict judges' interpretation of Article 8 of the ECHR (family rights). - Law change will also restrict what counts as a 'family connection'
thetimes.com
Fall in net migration to stall as forecasts ‘overestimate exodus’
Home Office officials fear annual level will be 200,000 above that expected by the government because migrants are staying for longer
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Matt Dathan @mattdathan.bsky.social · 09/05/2025
Excl: The Home Office fears that long-term immigration will be higher than expected and believes the government is overstating the benefits of migration: www.thetimes.com/article/0a9b...
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Matt Dathan @mattdathan.bsky.social · 07/05/2025
Excl: All migrants will have to learn a higher standard of English under plans to ensure they integrate into society. The Immigration White Paper will also restrict employers' ability to hire foreign workers if they don't train up domestic workers: www.thetimes.com/article/a46c...
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Matt Dathan @mattdathan.bsky.social · 07/05/2025
The cost of housing asylum seekers in hotels and other temporary accommodation has ballooned to three times as much as the Home Office originally estimated - to £15.3 billion, according to the National Audit Office: www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/...
thetimes.com
Cost of housing asylum seekers triples as small boat crossings rise
The bill is expected to be £15.3 billion over ten years, as the price of accommodation, especially hotels, increases
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Matt Dathan @mattdathan.bsky.social · 05/05/2025
Excl: The Home Office will restrict work and study visa applications from nationalities including Pakistanis, Nigerians and Sri Lankans who are most likely to overstay and claim asylum. The plans will be unveiled as part of Keir Starmer's Immigration White Paper: www.thetimes.com/article/c6fe...
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Matt Dathan @mattdathan.bsky.social · 05/05/2025
Excl: Domestic abusers must be exempt from the government's sentencing reforms that will make greater use of alternatives to custody, its domestic abuse commissioner has said: www.thetimes.com/uk/crime/art...
thetimes.com
Keep jailing domestic abusers, says government adviser
Dame Nicole Jacobs, the domestic abuse commissioner, fears the risk of community sentences as the government prepares radical prison reforms
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Matt Dathan @mattdathan.bsky.social · 29/04/2025
More than 10,000 migrants have now arrived in the UK on small boats so far this year, the Home Office has confirmed. It's the earliest in the year the 10,000 mark has been reached (it wasn't hit until May 24th last year) And it's 44% higher than this time last year.
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Matt Dathan @mattdathan.bsky.social · 24/04/2025
New data reveals that 16,231 prisoners were released from jail early between September 10-December 31st under Labour's emergency prisoner release scheme. The standard determinate 40% scheme (SDS40) releases prisoners after serving just 40% of their sentence.
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Matt Dathan @mattdathan.bsky.social · 21/04/2025
Excl: The Prevent programme is failing to tackle the link between terrorism and organised crime, says leading criminologist awarded funding to investigate the link: www.thetimes.com/uk/crime/art...
thetimes.com
Prevent scheme ‘fails to tackle terrorism funded by organised crime’
A leading criminologist hopes an investigate of the link will improve early intervention strategies
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Matt Dathan @mattdathan.bsky.social · 21/04/2025
Excl: The first supermarket to open inside a prison: www.thetimes.com/uk/law/artic...
thetimes.com
HMP Iceland: the jail with its own supermarket
As part of a scheme to encourage good behaviour, inmates can browse aisles within the walls of a prison near Wolverhampton
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Matt Dathan @mattdathan.bsky.social · 20/04/2025
Excl: Incels should be offered dating coaches, says world-leading expert on the misogynistic subculture: www.thetimes.com/article/8dda...
thetimes.com
Incels ‘need dating coaches to reintegrate into society’
Sessions could help men to disengage from misogynistic ideologies and teach them to build healthy relationships, Andrew Thomas believes
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Matt Dathan @mattdathan.bsky.social · 18/04/2025
Excl: The UNHCR has endorsed Labour’s plan to deport failed asylum seekers to 'return hubs' in third countries. This is a significant development because it was the UNHCR which ultimately collapsed the Rwanda scheme: www.thetimes.com/article/ae4c...
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Matt Dathan @mattdathan.bsky.social · 18/04/2025
Inside Frankland prison a week on from the brutal attack by Hashem Abedi on three prison guards: www.thetimes.com/uk/crime/art...
thetimes.com
‘Prison officers need stab-proof vests before one of us is murdered’
The brutal attack on three officers in HMP Frankland has revealed how has exposed the violent and challenging conditions faced by staff in Britain’s highest security jails
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Matt Dathan @mattdathan.bsky.social · 16/04/2025
The Home Office has confirmed that yesterday saw a record daily number of migrants arrive in small boats. 705 in 12 dinghies. It takes the total for this year to 8,888 in 159 boats (highest on record and 42% higher than this time last year).
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Matt Dathan @mattdathan.bsky.social · 16/04/2025
Excl: Further outbreaks of unrest in prisons yesterday as specialist officers trained to deal with riots were sent in to HMP Lowdham Grange in Nottinghamshire. A prisoner had been taken hostage and inmates had got on the roof and climbed up netting on the wings: www.thetimes.com/uk/crime/art...
thetimes.com
Bomber’s brother Hashem Abedi given spork after prison attack
The Manchester Arena terrorist has been returned to Belmarsh after allegedly attacking guards at a separation centre with boiling cooking oil
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Matt Dathan @mattdathan.bsky.social · 07/04/2025
Excl: Young knife crime offenders should be forced to do national service, says 'citizens panel' held by @PRTuk to assess the public's attitudes to sentencing. It also found that the public wants to see offenders punished with more visible community orders: www.thetimes.com/uk/law/artic...
thetimes.com
Make young knife crime offenders do national service, says panel
A group of citizen representatives found that this approach would be seen as a more effective deterrent than prison
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Matt Dathan @mattdathan.bsky.social · 07/04/2025
Excl: Immigration white paper delayed until after Easter due to lack of agreement across cabinet and to appease businesses already reeling from US tariffs. The paper will lay out Labour's plans to reduce net migration, which stood at 728,000 last year: www.thetimes.com/article/1f6c...
thetimes.com
Starmer blueprint to cut immigration delayed
The prime minister’s promised white paper will now come after Easter as the cabinet tries to iron out its differences and businesses reel from Trump’s tariffs
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Matt Dathan @mattdathan.bsky.social · 07/04/2025
EXCL: Eritreans are by far the largest nationality crossing the Channel in small boats this year with more than 1,200 arriving so far: Cheaper prices by smugglers are attracting increasingly poorer migrants to make the journey: www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/...
thetimes.com
A fifth of migrants crossing Channel on small boats are Eritreans
A price drop by smugglers and the threat of war with Ethiopia draw record numbers from the poor African country
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Matt Dathan @mattdathan.bsky.social · 02/04/2025
Donald Trump's government agrees to a crackdown on people smugglers that use US social media platforms to advertise small boat crossings: www.thetimes.com/uk/social-me...
t.co
https://www.thetimes.com/uk/social-media/article/us-agrees-to-crack-down-on-people-smugglers-use-of-social-media-c757pjbv7
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Matt Dathan @mattdathan.bsky.social · 01/04/2025
EXCL: Stopping all small boat crossings is unrealistic, says Major General Duncan Capps, the man in charge of Britain's operational response in the Channel. Here's his interview with @thetimes.com: www.thetimes.com/article/e5c9...
thetimes.com
Keir Starmer told that stopping all small boats ‘unrealistic’
The prime minister is hosting a summit in London with representatives from more than 40 countries to boost the sharing of intelligence, tactics and resources
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Matt Dathan @mattdathan.bsky.social · 29/03/2025
Also in this piece: How next week's Border Security Summit being held in London next week had to be renamed because it kept being referred to as the “BS” summit!
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Matt Dathan @mattdathan.bsky.social · 29/03/2025
EXCL: An FBI-style ‘Most Wanted’ list will be drawn up by the security services, the Home Office and the NCA to target the top 100 most dangerous people smugglers to Britain: www.thetimes.co.uk/article/most...
thetimes.co.uk
Migrant smugglers to be shamed on FBI-style ‘Most Wanted’ list
Mugshots of the 100 most dangerous criminals will be made public under the Home Office plans
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Matt Dathan @mattdathan.bsky.social · 25/03/2025
It was only in 2022 that Labour forced the government to rip out solar panels in prisons across the country after exposing how they contained parts made by Uighur Muslims in forced labour camps: www.thetimes.com/uk/law/artic...
thetimes.com
Dominic Raab rips up solar contract linked to Uighur slavery
Dominic Raab last night ripped up a multimillion-pound contract to install solar panels on dozens of prisons and courts after The Times revealed they contained
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Matt Dathan @mattdathan.bsky.social · 25/03/2025
Excl: The Home Office has cancelled its contract with a large supplier of hotels for poor performance and profiteering. And it is bringing in the firm that ran the Bibby Stockholm barge: www.thetimes.com/article/8370...
thetimes.com
Bibby Stockholm firm replaces Stay Belvedere Hotels in migrant contract
Corporate Travel Management was criticised for its running of the barge in Portland, south Dorset, which was opened by the last government
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Matt Dathan @mattdathan.bsky.social · 24/03/2025
Excl: Three in four court cases are still processed in paper form despite a £1.5 billion, nine year 'modernisation' programme that finishes this month: www.thetimes.com/uk/law/artic...
thetimes.com
Three in four court cases processed on paper despite £1.5bn digitisation project
The overhaul of HM Courts & Tribunals Service was launched in 2016
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Matt Dathan @mattdathan.bsky.social · 23/03/2025
Excl: Treasury admits migrants will be housed in hotels for years as it orders the Home Office to find cheaper providers. A document setting out an audit of asylum accommodation rails at "profiteering" by the private contractors: www.thetimes.com/article/bf76...
thetimes.com
Migrants will be put up in hotels for years yet, Treasury admits
The hotel bill for asylum seekers is £5.5m a day, so the Home Office has been ordered to cut costs and crack down on companies ‘profiteering’
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Matt Dathan @mattdathan.bsky.social · 22/03/2025
Josh Babarinde was just four years old when he was first abused by his mother’s ex-partner. Now he's trying to change the law to better protect victims of domestic abuse. Read the Lib Dem MP's story in @thetimes.com here: www.thetimes.com/article/1caa... @joshbabarinde.bsky.social
thetimes.com
I’m an MP who was abused aged four — now I can speak for victims
With a harrowing personal story, the Liberal Democrat Josh Babarinde is on a mission to ensure there is no hiding place for domestic abusers
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Matt Dathan @mattdathan.bsky.social · 21/03/2025
EXCL: Failed asylum seekers could be sent to offshore 'return hubs' in the Balkans and other third countries under Labour's alternative to the Rwanda scheme: www.thetimes.com/article/b449...
thetimes.com
Labour considers sending migrants to the Balkans
The government is drawing up proposals for ‘return hubs’ abroad where people would be sent after being rejected for asylum
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Matt Dathan @mattdathan.bsky.social · 16/03/2025
Excl: Number of failed asylum seekers waiting for an appeal has soared 500% in 2 years. It's blocking efforts to move migrants out of hotels Ministers are planning to change the law to force courts to halve asylum appeals. Read for free on @thetimes.com tonight: www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/...
thetimes.com
Backlog of rejected asylum seekers’ appeals up 500% in two years
The number of asylum seekers waiting for an appeal rose to nearly 42,000 by the end of last year, delaying removals and driving up taxpayer costs
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Reposted by Matt Dathan
The Times and Sunday Times @thetimes.com · 14/03/2025
Read The Times and Sunday Times for free this weekend at thetimes.com
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Matt Dathan @mattdathan.bsky.social · 14/03/2025
Excl: Guidance handed to judges says migrants are being treated badly by the right-wing media in the UK. It also uses a controversial definition of Islamophobia that has been criticised for creating a de-facto blasphemy law: www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/...
thetimes.com
Migrants ‘treated badly by press’, fairness handbook tells judges
Robert Jenrick, the shadow justice secretary, says the Equal Treatment Bench Book promotes ‘two-tier justice’ and uses a controversial definition of Islamophobia
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Matt Dathan @mattdathan.bsky.social · 11/03/2025
The alleged Palestinian militant who arrived in a small boat last Thursday posted a video of himself throwing a pipe bomb at Israeli soldiers: www.thetimes.com/uk/crime/art...
thetimes.com
Alleged Hamas supporter arrested after arrival on small boat
Abu Wadei, who has spent 18 months travelling across Europe, caused a security alert when he landed and remains in police custody
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Matt Dathan @mattdathan.bsky.social · 06/03/2025
Excl: New sentencing guidelines urging special treatment for ethnic and religious minorities were drawn up on the back of recommendations in David Lammy's race disparities review: www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/...
thetimes.com
Softer sentencing for minorities was based on David Lammy report
The justice secretary Shabana Mahmood vows to reverse sentencing guidance telling judges to consider ethnic and religious backgrounds
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Matt Dathan @mattdathan.bsky.social · 05/03/2025
Excl: The raft of new criminal offences Labour is creating in its Crime and Policing Bill will only lead to between 13-55 more people sent to prison each year: www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/...
thetimes.com
Crime bill ‘a gimmick’ as only 55 more people will be jailed a year
Robert Jenrick, the shadow justice secretary, has criticised the legislation, as estimates suggested only a handful more offenders would end up in prison
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Matt Dathan @mattdathan.bsky.social · 05/03/2025
Excl: Albanian criminal jailed for more than 3 years for running a cannabis farm was spared deportation because it would deprive his daughter of a "male role model": www.thetimes.com/uk/law/artic...
thetimes.com
Deporting criminal would deprive daughter of male role model, judges rule
An Albanian cannabis farmer can stay in the UK under European Convention on Human Rights provision for family life
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Matt Dathan @mattdathan.bsky.social · 04/03/2025
The extreme right-wing satanist online community that uses extortion to force children to commit acts of violence and has inspired school massacres in the US gaining traction in the UK: www.thetimes.com/uk/society/a...
thetimes.com
Right-wing satanist group 764 gains traction in UK
The online community, which has inspired school massacres in the US, blackmails children into self-harming, ending their own lives and committing terrorist acts
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Matt Dathan @mattdathan.bsky.social · 04/03/2025
Excl: The Home OFfice wrongly treated hundreds of child asylum seekers as adults last year, placing them in hotels and detention centres alone with adults: www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/...
thetimes.com
Home Office wrongly treated child asylum seekers as adults
A report shows many children were housed in hotels and detention centres with adults, as the highest amount of arrivals so far this year occurred on Sunday
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Matt Dathan @mattdathan.bsky.social · 28/02/2025
Prolific offenders will be offered the chance to avoid prison if they agree to intensive rehab courses. Shabana Mahmood is planning the reforms as part of a major expansion of community sentences. It's another key reform she learnt from Texas this week: www.thetimes.com/uk/crime/art...
thetimes.com
‘Texas-style’ courts will offer UK criminals rehab instead of jail
Widely adopted in the US state, the courts allow prolific offenders to serve sentences in the community — freeing prison spaces and reducing reoffending
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Matt Dathan @mattdathan.bsky.social · 28/02/2025
Inside a supermax prison in Texas where Britain is seeking to learn lessons to deliver long-term reform to our broken justice system: www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/...
thetimes.com
Prisoners may have to earn release under radical Texas-style reforms
Shabana Mahmood is considering scrapping automatic early release and forcing prisoners to work full-time in a drive to reduce reoffending and crime rates
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