The early release from prison of 1,000 criminals including burglars, drug dealers and fraudsters marked Gordon Brown’s first day of office yesterday.

Plans to free the non-dangerous prisoners in an effort to ease prison overcrowding were set out two weeks ago.

A total of 25,500 prisoners are expected to be freed up to 18 days early over the course of a year.

Jack Straw, the newly appointed Lord Chancellor and Justice Secretary, defended the move, saying that criminals freed early would be “carefully selected” by prison governors.

“This will carry on until we do get stability in the prison population,” he said.

The previous Justice Secretary, Lord Falconer of Thoroton, said that the “temporary” move could apply to any offender sentenced to between four weeks and four years. But he insisted that new guidance for prison governors would allow people to be let out only on licence.

Mr Straw defended the measure in his first interview in his new job, saying that criminals freed early would be “carefully selected” by the governors.

There are about 31,000 inmates serving sentences of four years or less.

Mark Leech, the editor of The Prisons Handbook, said that there was a need for more prisoners to be freed. “The Prison Service needs breathing space. If numbers continue to rocket up we are in danger of a loss of control.

“But 1,200 is nowhere near enough. We need to have at least 10,000 prisoners released to give the prisons the respite they need.”

The prison population has risen from about 61,500 in 1997 to 81,000.

Yesterday David Davis, the Shadow Home Secretary, said: “The first act of a Brown Government is for more than 1,000 offenders to be released early. This is a consequence of the new Prime Minister’s refusal to adequately fund our prisons when he was Chancellor, and it is the public who are now paying the price with their safety.”

Simon Hughes, the Liberal Democrat justice spokesman, said: “This is a fiasco that has been a decade in the making.”

But Paul Cavadino, the chief executive of the ex-offenders’ charity Nacro, welcomed the step. “The early release of nonviolent prisoners is the only immediately available way of relieving the prison population crisis,” he said.

“The early-release scheme will increase public protection, not reduce it. Because it involves supervision, the scheme should reduce these prisoners’ chances of reoffending.

Juliet Lyon, of the Prison Reform Trust, said: “The sight of 1,000 people leaving prison early, ill-prepared for life outside must prompt a new team of justice ministers to put aside panic measures and make sensible plans for the future.”

The process caused bemusement among relatives and friends waiting to greet inmates who were being released early from HMP Winson Green in Birmingham.

One man, who was waiting for his father, said: “He’s only been in prison two weeks. It’s ridiculous, but I’m well happy – we’re going out on the drink tonight.”

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