This is the best summary I could come up with:

Speaking at HMP Five Wells in Northamptonshire, Ms Mahmood said jails had been operating at 99% capacity since the start of last year and were now weeks away from running out of space.If that happened overflow police cells would be filled, she warned, leading to "van-loads of dangerous people circling the country with nowhere to go".She added: "Soon, the courts would grind to a halt, unable to hold trials.“With officers unable to act, criminals could do whatever they want, without consequence.

As Ms Mahmood painted a bleak picture she would have been aware that allowing some prisoners out early will not be popular with some people.But she stressed that she had been “left with no choice at all” blaming the previous Conservative government for the crisis.

Ms Mahmood knows that the questions and criticism will quickly come her way if this scheme does not work or leads to a rise in offences.Conservative shadow security minister Tom Tugendhat said in a social media post: "In what world is releasing 20,000 criminals onto our streets a good idea.

Ex-Labour MP Harriet Harman believes that too many women are being locked up and says the criminal justice system should deal with them in a different way.

"Most women are in prison for very short sentences for non-violent crimes, [and] most themselves have been victims of violence as well," she told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

"The chief inspector of prisons Charlie Taylor said "this measure will inevitably lead to the early release of some risky offenders" but a decision on how to tackle the issue "needed to be taken and none would have been without risk".

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