Hundreds of prisoners to walk free on Thursday as expanded early release scheme begins
Hundreds of prisoners will be freed on Thursday in the first wave of an expanded early release scheme, as the Government battles to keep the justice system from collapsing under overcrowding.
Hundreds of prisoners are due to walk free from jail on Thursday in the first wave of the Government’s controversial expanded early release scheme, PA reports.
Some 5,000 prisoners are scheduled for release in stages over the next year — down from 6,000 after ministers exempted rapists and the most serious child sex offenders — in a bid to free capacity in the overcrowded male prison estate.
The scheme was expanded under the 2026 Sentencing Act, which allows ministers to cut the point at which prisoners can be freed from 40 per cent of a fixed-term sentence to a third.
It comes as the prison population of England and Wales stood at 87,499 on Monday, according to Ministry of Justice figures — up 1,738, or 2 per cent, since June 29. Prisons are hovering between 97 and 98 per cent capacity and are projected to fill entirely by November without urgent action, CNN reports.
Those convicted of manslaughter are excluded, meaning the killers of Pc Andrew Harper — Albert Bowers and Jessie Cole, convicted in 2020 — are not eligible, PA reports. Justice Secretary Alex Norris has apologised to victims for a summer of uncertainty over the plans.
About 1,350 prisoners will be freed over a fortnight from October 1, The Times reports, most of whom will not be fitted with electronic tags before release because the Probation Service lacks capacity — despite ministers’ pledge of a presumption of tagging on release.
Sources
More on this topic: all UK Broadband stories