The early release scheme it's a gimmick and helps no-one but criminals. Just build more prisons.

In fact schools are obsessed with attendance as OfSted downgrades them on this.

Absolutely.

Tuliptree

GrannyGravy13

Since the foundation of the modern Conservative Party (1852?) they have governed for 98 years (20 PM’s)

Labour has governed for 36 years since its formation in 1924 (8 PM’s)

Obviously Conservatives will have done more of most things

Oh and I do not respond to people who shout in the real life, nor do I respond to posters who shout with their use of capital letters.

Well to be fair GG if I were you I wouldn’t want to respond to try and defend the complete failure of the 2010-2024 administrations re prison places. As for the capitals, it was for emphasis and sarcasm. I’d love to know shat your frequent use of italics is all about?

I think most of us know the Labour party is much younger than the Conservative Party.

That doesn't take away from the fact that is was the CP that first introduced Prison Early Releases in England under the Conservative Government 1853 Penal Servitude Act which introduced the "ticket of leave" system, allowing convicts to serve the final portion of their sentences on license in the community.

Labour wasn't even an apple in the eye in 1853 😉

Up to half of the adult prison population in the UK may be neurodivergent, and over 30% have identified learning difficulties or disabilities. Because many conditions go undiagnosed or rely on self-reporting, exact total counts shift, but specific figures are tracked through official data and screenings:

Key Statistics on Neurodiversity and Learning Difficulties
Neurodivergence Overall: Government and inspectorate reviews estimate up to 50% of prisoners are neurodivergent (covering conditions like autism, ADHD, dyslexia, and dyspraxia).

Learning Difficulties/Disabilities: Over 30% of prisoners enrolled in education or assessed in custody have learning difficulties and/or disabilities. At least 25,000 individual learners have been officially identified in this category since April 2021.

Specific Diagnoses (ADHD and Autism): Official figures from early 2024 recorded 6,699 prisoners (about 8% of the population) with a confirmed ADHD diagnosis, and 2,684 prisoners (about 3.2%) with a confirmed diagnosis of autism

I have to rush out but this is what AI has come back with using government statistics.

The SEND white paper isn't going to improve outcomes

MayBee70

Chocolatelovinggran

Evidence suggests that there is less reoffending in countries with more focus on rehabilitation, than there is in countries with a more punishment based model of incarceration.

I was going to ask about this. As usual I think it’s Scandinavian countries that deal with this sort of thing better than we do, but I can’t remember which country was mentioned in the article I read.

There was a program on some time ago featuring the Norwegian prison system. They have one of the lowest reoffending rates in the world.
It can work but unlike Norway we arnt as rich as Craccus.

www.firststepalliance.org/post/norway-prison-system-lessons

Prison Early Release Debate House of Lords 1 July 2026

Lord Garnier (Con)

My Lords, there are 3,650 women in prison in England and Wales. There are 12 women’s prisons and, as it happens, all 12 of them are in England. Of that 3,650, 2,500—that is about 70% of the women’s prison population—are in custody for non-violent offences. Why do the Government not release them, or at least some of them, and redesignate some of the women’s prisons to house the rapists and child molesters that seem to be about to be released?

Lord Timpson (Lab)

The noble and learned Lord’s figures are correct. What I also believe is that most women should not be in prison. I believe most women are victims. When you know that over 60% of women in prison have brain damage as a result of being beaten up, you have to ask yourself the question, “Where is the right place for them?” What we need is a very robust and well-invested Probation Service. We need to make sure they have a house to live in when they are released and that they get the support both in prison and out, so that the likelihood of reoffending can be reduced. With the Women’s Justice Board that we set up last year, we have done a great amount of work on a women’s diversion fund. We already had one women’s intensive supervision court, and we have announced another four, so this is part of the process of getting to a point where we can close a women’s prison.

hansard.parliament.uk/Lords/2026-07-01/debates/1B3A5D10-A2BF-417E-BAAC-425B656EEE67/PrisonerEarlyRelease

Yesterday, Harriet Harman tweeted:

100% correct from @EdwardGarnier Early release for women prisoners, most of whom non-violent, to free up prison places for violent men. And also important for their children, who suffer when mother imprisoned. There’s other ways, in the community, women can serve sentences.

Chocolatelovinggran

Evidence suggests that there is less reoffending in countries with more focus on rehabilitation, than there is in countries with a more punishment based model of incarceration.

Does it cost a whole heap more of money?

And that is why it doesnt happen?

Googled

AI Overview Rehabilitation itself can be costly, but it is far cheaper than the alternative. Keeping someone in prison in England and Wales averages over £60,000 per year, whereas community-based rehabilitation and supervision cost a fraction of that. Furthermore, reoffending costs the taxpayer over £23 billion annually, proving that the lack of effective rehabilitation is the most expensive outcome.

So, if that is true, why isnt it done.

Graphite that is spot on re too many women in prison and scarcely any for violent offences.

It will be essential that enhanced and extended rehabilitation schemes aren’t seen as a low-cost alternative. This is what happened to Community Care and mental health with the results that are all too clear today.

winterwhite

Graphite that is spot on re too many women in prison and scarcely any for violent offences.

It will be essential that enhanced and extended rehabilitation schemes aren’t seen as a low-cost alternative. This is what happened to Community Care and mental health with the results that are all too clear today.

This is so true.

Trying to do things on the cheap under the guise of it being better for people is something we have all been sold at least twice. Care in the community for example - what a mess it has all been through underfunding.

Ref my relative who had brain deficits in utero and finished up in the prison system when what they needed was proper care and support as a child and young adult - one referral to CAMHS resulted in their one employee ringing to say that there are no clinical staff at all and her job is to ring people who have been referred and tell them that .... beyond belief.

Of course, funding is at the heart of all prison regimes. I understood that some services are, now, outsourced or privatised, so I'm not sure the impact, if any , on finance.
I wanted to make the point that a punitive model, as in the USA, seems to cause more long term problems that the rehabilitation schemes in other places.
Of course, I am not suggesting that this is without cost, but this runs counter to the suggestion that making incarceration more unpleasant will lead to good outcomes.

Just build more prisons
?
Easier said than done!
It’s not just the buildings, it’s the prison staff, probation service staff, social worker staff and all the many ramifications of incarceration.
Of course it would help if there were fewer criminals, and I think drugs play an enormous part, but that’s another story altogether.

^Trying to do things on the cheap under the guise of it being better for people is something we have all been sold at least twice. Care in the community for example - what a mess it has all been through underfunding.
^

But lots of people are calling for more rehabilitation on this thread.
And it is cheaper too.

This is my understand of the impending changes planed for 2nd September under the Sentencing Act 2026:

The early release is being rolled out in monthly tranches to ease prison overcrowding. The key changes include:
Violent and sexual offences: Prisoners serving longer fixed-term sentences for more serious crimes will now be released at the 50% point instead of the 66% point.
Exceptions apply; offenders serving life sentences or extended determinate sentences will not benefit from these automatic early releases.

Data shows that prisoners who undertake early release on tag and curfew actually have lower rates of reoffending over time due to their supervision on release.

A key issue of course is that their victims and families should be made aware of release dates. I can understand that from a victim’s position that serving a smaller portion of a sentence in prison and being released early is extremely upsetting and feels so unjust. However in the current situation that the prison system is bursting at the seams there appears to be little immediate alternative. I do understand AB has said he will review the September plans but in reality those plans are in place, September is not far off, and can not realistically be subjected to whole scale change without causing absolute chaos and risk in the current probation and prison system.

Nothing wrong with a review of sentencing guidelines, early release schemes and penal reform in the round- but that can’t be done by September.

fancythat

^Trying to do things on the cheap under the guise of it being better for people is something we have all been sold at least twice. Care in the community for example - what a mess it has all been through underfunding.
^

But lots of people are calling for more rehabilitation on this thread.
And it is cheaper too.

Doing rehab properly saves the prison costs of reoffending but it is of itself not a cheap option. It requires long term funding commitment if it is to be done properly.

fancythat

So, if that is true, why isnt it done.

... £££

Such schemes require investment of money and people.

I don't know what Labour's plans are, but the years of Austerity, neo-liberal market-led economics and small State ideology - and short-termism politics would've completely ruled out such an initiative.

But if it is cheaper?..

I cant work out what I am missing.

The Telegraph is reporting that AB is suspending all early releases pending a review.

A couple of things really bug me about this debate
First, used to be considered for release after 2/3 opf their sentence & now it's half. So typically, they've been locked up for 5 years rather than 6. But because they haven't served this extra year, they're feared as a "risk" which otherwise they wouldn't have been.
Really? What happens in that last 12 months to them that makes them inoffensive & no risk???
Second, the undoubtedly tragic death of PC Andrew Harper , they keep describing the criminals potentially getting early release as his "Killers". They were passengers in the car that killed him, but I've been a passenger several times in a car that is being driven less than carefully, & I have very little power to alter that. So how did these people "Kill" him? They may have been egging the driver on or they may have been begging him to stop.They aren't proven killers so (although I doubt I'll see the day when a media campaign argues their case) the sentence they got was fine & bringing them under the new rules is fine - for all I can see (& notwithstanding lots of publicity for Andrew harper's spouse - but she wasn't in the car & if she had been , she might not have been able to change the outcome).

I hope this urgent review has a short timescale! It's 23 July today and September 2nd is exactly 6 weeks ahead. I hope AB quickly understands the role of the Probation Service in supporting this early release scheme and their entire focus on minimising risk. As already posted the risk is actually reduced by releasing prisoners under tag and curfew measures than simply releasing.

Politics is always about making difficult choices and making trade offs. This may appease victim's family in the short term but the problem of over crowded prisons remains and the early release scheme will go ahead. In what way can the risks on release be lowered further than the current sterling work of the probation service? A review of the Probation service is not a short term, urgent review but a wider scale system reform surely? Meanwhile a bottle neck of prison capacity builds up…

According to the Probation Officers union, NAPO, preparations for release requires probation staff to carry out extensive work that usually takes at least six to eight weeks. This includes reviewing risk assessments, making referrals for accommodation, carrying out home visits, coordinating with victim liaison officers and domestic abuse support officers and developing multi-agency safeguarding plans. It can also take several weeks to ensure that tagging measures are in place before an offender is placed in accommodation. Unless probation staff received “imminent, concrete direction” about who will be considered, established release plans could collapse, a union official has said. 'The statement about review has caused chaos in prisons, where managers are responsible for calculating release dates over several weeks from 2 September.'

It's playing to the gallery.
This is a temporary blip, we are building prisons but it will be a frightening one if the worst criminals can't be detained in prison because nowhere can physically take them.

I agree. It's much safer to the public to release prisoners early like this under tag, curfew and monitoring of the probation service- plus frees prison capacity- plus reduces reoffending rates. The prisons and probation service already set up and organised for this on 2 September.

Not wishing to sound cruel but the victim's distress is not taken away merely delayed.

I fear it is not all about money but a lot about our more punitive society. I started work in probation in 1978. The team was established to provide alternatives to custody for people, mostly men, whose history was short prison sentences for non violent offences. Women, often mothers served frequent short sentences for shop lifting. It’s been dreadful to see the failed privatisation, the destruction of what was a well trained workforce.

You make some good points valdami
thank you.

Very much food for thought there.

Andy Burnham has ordered the Ministry of Justice to halt the early release of prisoners amid outrage at the prospect of two of Pc Andrew Harper’s killers being freed from jail.

The Prime Minister said no prisoners would be freed under the scheme until the Government had reviewed it and “done everything we can to minimise risk to the public”.

The move threatens to plunge a prison system struggling with overcrowding into fresh chaos, as officials face having to work out new release plans for thousands of offenders just weeks before they were due to be freed. The Daily Telegraph today

Good news I hope Andrew Harper's have to serve their full sentence.