// BBC UK NEWS — CRONACA
Mother backs calls to stop killers' early release
Emma Webber has joined more than 30 families affected by homicide calling for the change to the government's early release scheme
More than 30 families have called on the government to stop killers convicted of any form of manslaughter being released early to ease prison overcrowding in England and Wales.
In a letter to Justice Secretary Alex Norris, the families said they felt victims were "being asked to bear the consequences of the prison capacity crisis".
Signatories include Emma Webber, whose son Barnaby was stabbed to death in the Nottingham attacks in 2023, and whose killer Valdo Calocane was convicted of manslaughter on the basis of diminished responsibility.
Speaking on Radio 4's Today programme, Bridget Phillipson, Minister for Women and Equalities, defended the early release scheme.
She said the government had faced "some really difficult and unpalatable choices" in dealing with prison overcrowding and that they had faced "the wholesale collapse of the criminal justice system".
The scheme, external aims to ease prison overcrowding in England and Wales.
The families of those affected by homicide have called for those convicted of any form of manslaughter to be excluded.
Those convicted of murder and those serving sentences for rape, serious child sexual abuse and grooming offences are already excluded from the early release scheme.
Andrew Harper suffered fatal injuries while on duty in 2019