One London prison released 745 prisoners early under the scheme
Thousands of prisoners have been released early across the UK(Image: Christopher Furlong, Getty Images)
Thousands of London prisoners have been let out of jail under the Government’s early release scheme to tackle overcrowding in prisons, new figures show. The scheme was launched as an emergency measure on September 10 last year, just days after the prison population reached a record high of 88,521.
The scheme allows eligible prisoners to be released after serving only 40 per cent of their fixed-term sentence, rather than the usual 50 per cent.
Figures from the Ministry of Justice show 745 inmates had been released under the scheme at HMP Brixton as of the end of June, the highest figure of any London prison. The highest number of early releases recorded overall was from HMP Humber near Hull, at 1,126. Across England and Wales, a total 38,042 inmates had been freed.
HMP Brixton has seen 745 inmates released early as part of the scheme(Image: Dan Kitwood, Getty Images)
The current scheme for the early release of prisoners replaced a separate scheme introduced by the previous Conservative government. Under this separate process, 13,325 prisoners in England and Wales were freed early between October 17, 2023 and September 9, 2024.
Commenting on the latest release figures, a MoJ spokeswoman said the Government took “decisive action to stop our prisons from collapsing” after inheriting a prison system “in crisis”.
She added: “Public protection is our number one priority. That is why offenders out on licence face strict conditions such as exclusion zones and being tagged, and they can be brought back to prison if they break these rules.”
Fresh legislation aimed at ending the prison capacity crisis in the long term was also introduced in Parliament in September. As the Sentencing Bill was laid by the then-justice secretary Shabana Mahmood, she said the criminal justice system was “on the verge of collapse” and vowed the legislation will ensure prisons “never run out of space again”.
Elsewhere data published on Thursday shows there were 11,041 recalls to custody in April to June 2025 of offenders who had breached the conditions of their release. It was a 13 per cent increase on the same period in 2024, and a 62 per cent jump from 2023.
The MoJ said the “historically high” level of recalls is likely associated with the Government’s early release scheme. The figures also come as ministers have dealt with the fallout of a recent jail blunder after Epping migrant sex offender Hadush Kebatu was accidentally freed from prison instead of being sent to an immigration detention centre.
Chief inspector of prisons Charlie Taylor said the mistake was symptomatic of chaos within the prison system, and that the amount of change in jails, such as different rules for early releases has been “making life difficult for prisons”.
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