'Let judges rule on early prisoner release'

Judges should get new powers to order the early release of convicted prisoners who are making clear progress behind bars, the Lord Chief Justice believes.

At the moment, a judge's contact with a criminal ends when the sentence is handed down. But Lord Woolf wants judges to play a much more active role in charting what happens after offenders go to jail. In cases where a prisoner has shown obvious signs of changing his ways, the judge should have the power to authorise early release on licence.

Lord Woolf 's proposals could cover inmates who go through offending behaviour programmes, courses to get over drug or alcohol problems, or learn to read and write. A Home Office source said the idea had already been put forward as part of a major review of sentencing.