On Monday Victims Minister Alex Davies-Jones told the BBC: “We will do nothing that would risk the public or put the public at danger.”
Under the early release scheme some 4,500 prisoners are now expected to start being released in tranches from October to ease overcrowding in jails.
The numbers due to be released has been reduced after the government said rapists, those found guilty of serious child sex offences and grooming offences and now those found guilty of manslaughter would be excluded from the scheme.
Given that fewer prisoners will now be released than initially expected this has a knock-on effect on prison capacity.
Timothy said releasing prisoners serving indefinite sentences under imprisonment for public protection sentences posed its own risk.
IPPs were given to offenders between 2005 and 2012 considered to pose a significant risk of causing serious harm to the public.
They were given an indefinite sentence where once a minimum term has been served, they could only be released once the Parole Board was satisfied they no longer need to be confined for public safety, meaning many are still being held indefinitely.
Timothy told the BBC: “By definition, the people who are still in prison on those sentences are dangerous, because they’ve all been considered by independent expert assessors who have concluded that they are not safe to release and they would be a danger to the public.”
He accepted not enough prisons had been built under the previous Conservative government.
Indefinite prison sentences have been handed out in several high-profile cases, including to Tracey Connelly, the mother of Baby P, who was jailed in 2009 after admitting causing or allowing the death of her one-year-old son Peter.
There were 2,271 people serving IPPs, according to Ministry of Justice (MoJ) data up to June of this year.
Of those, 856 have never been released because the Parole Board thought it was not safe to do so. Ending indefinite sentences for those still serving them would require new legislation, meaning it could be years before space is freed up.
But Davies-Jones told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “The government’s number one priority is to keep the public safe and in order to do that we need a functioning criminal justice system.”
She defended the government’s decision to look at indefinite sentences as part of ensuring there were enough prison spaces.
“We need to look at every case on its merits individually, and pass the appropriate legislation and we will do that responsibly and we will take our time to get it right,” she added.
She said those released would still be monitored.
