Inmates released from Doncaster prisons early due to coronavirus will be low risk

South Yorkshire Police assistant chief constable Tim Forbes, said there would be a thorough process and those serving time for serious crimes would stay behind bars.

The news comes as central government announced that up to 4,000 prisoners in England could be due for early release in efforts to contain the virus.

The Ministry of Justice announced low-risk offenders would be temporarily released on licence in stages, but could be sent back to prison at the first sign of trouble.

Ministers say the strategy would avoid thousands of prisoners, many of whom share cells, from becoming infected.

ACC Forbes said all those eligible will be out on licence and be made to wear a GPS tag.

He said the force was in contact with the probation service on how to manage the situation.

“There’s very strict guidelines about which prisoners are likely to be released. In short, it’s those who are low risk and those towards the very end of their sentence,” ACC Forbes said.

“We’re working with the probation service to understand what that might mean for South Yorkshire and it’s still very much a moving situation at the moment.

“The guidance that I’ve seen from central government around the prison service at the moment is that this will apply to those types of offenders for consideration.

“Our understanding is they’ll be on licence and have to wear a GPS tag - we deal with tagged offenders all the time and you’ll see that will assist to not physically contact known criminal associates.”

The announcement follows news that pregnant women in custody who do not pose a high risk of harm to the public will be temporarily released from prison to protect them and their unborn children from Covid-19.