Not even the Christmas season can keep attention off Labour’s controversial policies for long. The furore around this year’s early prison releases is still haunting Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour lot – and those criminals let out early are doing nothing to reassure the public.
As Steerpike revealed in October, Isaac Donkoh – a gang member and drill music artist also known as Young Dizz – was among those released under Labour’s new prisons policy. Yet despite the scheme being meant to exclude those convicted of serious violence from getting out ahead of time, Donkoh was still released despite the police chief on the case describing Donkoh’s crime – the kidnap and torture of a 16-year-old boy – as ‘extremely violent’. In fact, ‘Young Dizz’ was initially handed a whopping sentence of 12-and-a-half years in jail after pleading guilty to kidnap, conspiracy to falsely imprison, conspiracy to blackmail, grievous bodily harm and perverting the course of justice.
The former inmate was quick to take to both Twitter and TikTok to announce his release at the time – and now has gone even further in making a mockery of the Prime Minister. A new Christmas song released yesterday shows the criminal and a bunch of balaclava’d background dancers celebrating his early release, with Donkoh rapping:
Now that I’m back, I’m raising the crime rate. Keir Starmer let me out now he wants me back, got me scratching my head like make up your mind, mate.
Ouch. The PM has already insisted ‘there was no choice not to act’ on the matter of overcrowded prisons but letting out a convicted kidnapper – never mind the 37 inmates who were wrongly released September – raises serious questions about the competency of the new government.
For its part, a Ministry of Justice spokesperson told Steerpike:
The new government inherited prisons on the point of collapse with no choice but to introduce an emergency early release scheme. To keep the public safe, we excluded serious violent and sexual offenders as well as a series of offences linked domestic abuse. Offenders left prison under strict licence conditions, subject to recall if they are broken. We must now ensure no government inherits a situation like this. That means building new prisons and conducting a sentencing review to ensure we never run out of space again.
Tough talk, but if Starmer’s army expected to park this issue in 2024, they can think again…
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