Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood is planning extreme changes to the justice system in a bid to try and ease the overcrowding in prisons and slash reoffending rates It is modelled on a scheme in US state Texas (Image: Press Association)

Most short prison sentences are set to be axed to tackle the overcrowding crisis . New laws will see the end of jail terms of less than 12 months in most cases in a bid to slash reoffending rates, government insiders said. ‌

Ministers are also expected to toughen up community punishments and unveil a Texas-style scheme where criminals can earn early release. ‌

The incentive scheme in England and Wales is for lags who could be freed sooner if they show good behaviour after serving between a third and half of their sentence. ‌

But the

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