Express reporter Mieka Smiles thinks releasing prisoners early is a huge error (Image: Getty)

My cheeks are burning from second-hand embarrassment.

I am imagining the reactions of world leaders as they see the images of prisoners being released early onto UK streets being picked up in bl**dy Bentleys, cracking open Champagne in jubilation and laughing at our lax approach.

More than 1,200 of the crooks who had been sentenced to more than five years in prison were freed early across England and Wales today – and it follows the early release of another 1,750 last month under a new government scheme where prisoners serve 40 percent rather than 50 percent of their sentences.

Call me crazy, but I think Starmer’s decision to let prisoners walk free before they’ve finished even half of their sentence is not just cause for blushes – it’ll be a death knell for proper punishment and enforcement if we don’t change tack. And fast.

We are all aware that our prisons are bursting at the seams. And I know this hasn’t happened overnight. Conservatives can’t duck the blame as this has been a long time coming. But there simply must have been a better way of dealing with the issue than this.

It’s what Reform UK’s Richard Tice said today that’s actually struck a chord with me. He claims that there are currently 10,000 foreign criminals in our prisons and for that reason today’s release was “totally unnecessary”. Even as a Tory, I have to agree with him.

So first up? Find a way to deport them. His comments ring true with a case that I reported on earlier this year when an illegal immigrant – applying for and eventually rejected for asylum

– was sentenced to 48 months in Durham Prison after causing criminal mayhem on the streets.

The truth is he should have been sent home as soon as he was convicted, not given legal aid, free use of the NHS and the thousands it costs each week to take up a prison place.

And, of course, we need to build new prisons as fast as we feasibly can.

A £250k Lamborghini picked up one inmate released from Wandsworth Prison today (Image: PA)

Although Keir’s release might temporarily ease up pressure in jails it sends such a terrible message to our criminal contingent. For that reason it’s going to have precisely the opposite to hoped-for effect and lead to more strain, not less, on the criminal justice system as offenders rejoice at how wimpy our law enforcement has become.

You can take a real life example of this in how looters now feel comfortable simply heading into any supermarket and corner shop and loading up on whatever stock they fancy as they know that police won’t do anything until their haul hits £200. It’s stricter punishments we need, as much as the lefties plead for rehabilitation.

I’ll leave you with a couple of comments that I’m sure that the Prime Minister will be absolutely delighted with – as those emerging from jail have spoken of their gratitude to him for his government’s early release scheme.

Convicted armed kidnapper Daniel Dowling-Brooks shouted, “Big up Keir Starmer” when released this morning and posed on a £150,000 Bentley outside jail.

Mortifying.

Another thanked Sir Keir as he was released from HMP Thameside in south London after serving less than a third of his sentence. The inmate spent just three months of his 10-month sentence for theft by false representation at the Category B jail.

As he pumped his fist at the gate he said: “I’m coming out early – thank you, Keir Starmer! I’m a Labour voter, I think they’re going to be a lot better for us.”