Thousands of British prisoners are to be released earlier than planned as the UK government attempts to avert the "collapse" of the prisons system.
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Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood warned on Friday that without immediate action to address overcrowding, prisons would run out of space within weeks - leading to "a total breakdown of law and order".
In a speech in Northamptonshire, she said there were barely 700 places left for adult males and jails had operated at 99 per cent capacity since the start of 2023.
Ms Mahmood laid the blame for the prisons crisis with the previous government.
"Those responsible - Sunak and his gang in Number 10 - should go down in history as the guilty men. The guilty men who put their political careers ahead of the safety and security of our country", she said.
If prisons ran out of cell space, she warned, the country faced the prospect of "van-loads of dangerous people circling the country with nowhere to go".
"With officers unable to act, criminals could do whatever they want, without consequence. We could see looters running amok, smashing in windows, robbing shops and setting neighbourhoods alight", she said.
"In short, if we fail to act now, we face the collapse of the criminal justice system. And a total breakdown of law and order."
The plans set out by Ms Mahmood would see a temporary reduction in the proportion of their sentence many prisoners must serve in jail from 50 per cent to 40 per cent.
This would not apply to violent offenders serving more than four years, sex offenders or those in prison for crimes connected to domestic abuse. Dangerous offenders serving extended or life sentences would also be exempted from the scheme.
Most prisoners currently serve 50 per cent of their sentence in jail, with the remaining 50 per cent being served on licence and under threat of being returned to prison if they break their parole conditions.
Former Conservative justice secretary Alex Chalk reportedly pressed former prime minister Rishi Sunak for a reduction to 40 per cent before the election, but was overruled by the then-PM.
In a stringent attack on her own party, former home secretary and Tory leadership hopeful Suella Braverman said the Conservatives had not built enough prisons.
"We've all got to start taking responsibility for what we did. And for the things we shamefully left undone.
But a Tory spokesman said 13,000 new prison places had been made, and prisoner release should only be a last resort, with adequate safeguards to protect the public.
The spokesperson added the opposition party was calling on the government to commit to a target of doubling the number of deportations of foreign national offenders.
Ms Mahmood stressed "this is an emergency measure" and "not a permanent change".
The Ministry of Justice is already building six new prisons to create an extra 20,000 places as demand grows for cell spaces.
Australian Associated Press
