In our weekly legal column, the Leader, with the expert advice of the team at GHP Legal, sets out to answer some of your problems. Today's question is answered by solicitor Alex Mackenzie...

How will the new rules on releasing prisoners early affect my partner?

Q: I have seen a lot on the news about the Prison Capacity Crisis and various things the Government are planning to do to ease it. However, there is so much different stuff being bandied about in the papers and other media that I'm really confused about whether my partner stands a chance of being released early. Can you explain the new rules, please?

A: Previously, most people who received prison sentences after committing a crime spent half their sentence in Prison before being released on licence. There were exceptions for some different types of sentences and those still apply. Those prisoners released on licence must abide by strict conditions and work with the Probation Service for the rest of their sentence. Failure to comply means they can be sent back to Prison on recall.

Now the Government has decided to reduce the time many prisoners spend physically in prison before being released on licence. So rather than spending half of their sentence in prison, many prisoners will now be released on licence after serving 40% of their sentence.

The new rule does not however apply to those who would spend longer than 50% in prison already, nor does it apply to those with a sentence of five years or more. Similarly, it does not apply to those serving a sentence of four years or more for some violent offences. There is also another list of offences that the new rule will not apply to.

Since the announcement of the changes, we have become aware that there is a lot of public confusion around them, which must make serving a prison sentence harder. As a result of this we have ensured that our dedicated Criminal Law and Prison Law Team are available to provide advice and assistance in all matters of Criminal and Prison Law and we are happy for you to contact us.

• This question has been answered by Alex Mackenzie, a solicitor with GHP Legal. If you would like to speak to someone about this or any other legal matter, please visit our website www.ghplegal.com and use the contact us form, or call us on: Wrexham 01978 291456, Llangollen 01978 860313, Oswestry 01691 659194.