The PM said he wanted to “go further” with additional exemptions, but could not do so because of prison capacity. Exemptions have previously relied on blocking blanket offence groups, such as rape, from the criteria for early release eligibility. The fear is that exempting them all would not have the desired effect of the policy on prison capacity and overcrowding. However, not all of them would necessarily be eligible for early release, because they could have committed other offences on the list of exclusions. A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said: “The death of PC Andrew Harper was a horrific crime.