Probation officers expected to back strikes over early release scheme workloads

PROBATION officers were expected to back industrial action as an indicative ballot on government plans to release more prisoners early closed today. Proposals under the Sentencing Act to ease overcrowding by freeing some 5,000 prisoners from October have sparked a public backlash, although Prime Minister Andy Burnham has excluded rapists and child-sex offenders from the scheme. The Napo union said that the changes to early-release rules would add to already “unsustainable” probation service…