There is considerable public outcry in the UK over the early prison release scheme as part of the Sentencing Act 2026 meant to decongest England and Wales of the overcrowded prisons. This outrage became clear when it became known that the scheme would be able to grant early parole for two killers of Police Constable Andrew Harper in 2019, namely, Jessie Cole and Albert Bowers. Although Burnham has stopped the program temporarily in order to bar rapists and child groomers from being included, reducing the inmate number from 6,000 to 5,000, he still feels pressured by 900,000 petitioners and 50 police chiefs who demand exclusion of killers of emergency service personnel. However, although British prisons have been declared 97 percent full and on the brink of failure after years of inflated sentences, Burnham insists that he will look for legal ways of stopping the killers' release and move forward with the scheme in October.