More inmates released early to stop prisons running out of space

More than a thousand inmates will be released early to free up spaces in prisons in England and Wales, the justice secretary has announced, as the government grapples with an overcrowding crisis.

Under the move, offenders serving one to four years who are recalled to prison for breaching their licences, will be released after 28 days.

Shabana Mahmood said a £4.7bn investment would fund more prisons, but said it would not be possible to "build our way out of this crisis".

A senior Ministry of Justice (MoJ) official said the government would "run out of prison places in just five months' time" if action was not taken.

Last week, the prisons minister told the BBC there would be no more emergency releases to deal with the overcrowding crisis in prisons.

But Mahmood said the move would free up about 1,400 prison places and buy ministers time to overhaul a system "on the brink of collapse".

The change would not apply to those who commit a serious further offence – or are deemed to pose a high risk, she said.

In usual circumstances, these offenders would go in front of a parole board before being confirmed for release, but the government has decided to skip that part of the process, arguing they would have already been released if it was not for a backlog in parole assessments.

The changes are expected to be introduced in the coming weeks.

Mahmood warned that despite plans to start work on three prisons this year, it would not be possible to "build our way out of this crisis" and the government otherwise faced running out of spaces for male offenders by November.

The latest prison-building initiative will be funded by a capital investment of £4.7bn over the five years after 2026.

Three prisons will be built, with work starting on a site near HMP Gartree in Leicestershire later this year, Mahmood added.

A fourth prison, HMP Millsike near York, opened earlier this year.

Changes from an upcoming review of sentencing, led by former Conservative minister David Gauke, were only likely to be felt from spring next year, she added.

Amy Rees, the MoJ's interim permanent secretary, said that on the government's "current trajectory" England would "entirely run out of prison places for adult men, in November of this year."

The number of recalled prisoners has increased in recent years and they now make up 13,583 inmates from a total prison population of 88,087.

This is only 1,355 spaces short of the total useable operational capacity of 89,442.

It is estimated to increase to between 95,700 and 105,200 by March 2029, according to government analysis released last year.

The changes announced on Wednesday would apply to offenders with sentences between one and four years, who have been released after serving their minimum period but recalled for breaching their terms of their licence, such as not sticking to their curfew.

The scheme will not include those who have been sent back in for reoffending.

Shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick said the announcement was "failing to protect the public".

He said "to govern is to choose, and today she's chosen to release early criminals who've reoffended or breached their licences."

The chairman of the Prison Officers Association said building new prisons will "not improve the current population crisis".

"The government would be better off spending billions of taxpayers' money on modernising the prison estate, funding an under-resourced probation service, providing more secure mental health beds and ensuring we have robust community sentences that the public have confidence in," Mark Fairhurst said.

One victim, whose perpetrator was recalled for breaching their restraining order, said the move was "outrageous" and meant some criminals would be given an easy way out without doing their time.

Domestic Abuse Commissioner Dame Nicole Jacobs said the proposal lacked consideration for victims' safety and put lives in danger.

"You are not sent to prison for four years if you do not pose significant risk to your victim or the wider public," she said. "Perpetrators of domestic abuse know everything about their victim – where they live, where they work, where their children go to school – they are also extremely willing to breach orders intended to protect victims, time and time again.

"Re-releasing them back into the community after 28 days is simply unacceptable."

The announcement comes just weeks before Gauke's independent sentencing review will publish its proposals on how to deal with the overcrowding.

It is understood it is likely to recommend more community based sentencing to reduce the reliance on imprisonment.

Last summer, thousands of offenders were released early just days before prisons were expected to run out of places.

According to government documents, between September and December 16,231 prisoners were released on licence under a scheme announced last year to let out offenders after serving 40% rather than 50% of their sentence.

It applied to those serving more than five years and excluded those convicted of serious violence, sex crimes and terrorism.

Additional reporting by Ruth Comerford.