First 700 Inmates Walk Free as England and Wales Begin Controversial Early Release Scheme

Hundreds of prisoners began walking out of jails across England and Wales on Thursday as the first wave of a controversial early release programme got under way, a move the government insists is necessary to stop the prison system from collapsing under the weight of chronic overcrowding.

Around 700 inmates were expected to be freed on the first day of the scheme, part of an estimated 4,500 who will be released in staggered waves over the coming months. According to the published timetable, the releases will continue in stages until June 2027, when the final group is due to leave custody.

The Ministry of Justice has described the situation as urgent. Data released on Monday showed 87,499 people were being held in prisons across England and Wales, putting the estate at 98.2% of its usable capacity. Officials warn that without intervention, the system is only months away from having no space left at all.

The scheme represents the first of ten scheduled release dates. Those leaving on Thursday had been serving shorter sentences of up to 19 months, while offenders convicted of the most serious crimes — those handed fixed terms of more than 12 years — will be released in the later waves of the programme.

The plan was introduced under the Sentencing Act brought forward by Sir Keir Starmer's government. It changes the point at which prisoners become eligible for release: offenders who would previously have served 40% or 50% of their term inside will now leave after a third, while those who formerly served two-thirds will be released at the halfway mark.

The government has sought to reduce the scope of the scheme following political pressure. Prime Minister Andy Burnham intervened personally to review its terms, a move that cut the number of prisoners expected to benefit from roughly 6,000 to around 4,500 and stripped eligibility from a range of serious offences.

Among the crimes now excluded from early release are all forms of manslaughter, grooming offences, and causing or allowing the death of a child. Indeterminate sentences — used for the most serious offences such as murder, and which require a parole board to determine that a prisoner is safe to be freed — are also unaffected by the changes.

Speaking to BBC Breakfast, Treasury minister James Murray acknowledged the strength of public feeling surrounding the policy. He said the level of concern, and possibly anger, would be intense, and stressed that ministers faced no easy options. He described the prison system the government inherited as one on the brink, warning that without the releases, people arrested in the coming weeks would have nowhere to be held.

Murray added that measures were in place to restrict the movements of those freed in the community, including expanded electronic monitoring. Pressed on the risks, he said he could not guarantee exactly what would happen, but insisted the government had done everything possible to limit the number of people being released.

The policy has drawn sharp criticism from those representing victims of crime. Andrea Simon, the London Victims' Commissioner, said the exemptions did not cover some offenders whose imminent release is a genuinely terrifying prospect for those they harmed. She argued there was no real reason to believe a shorter spell behind bars would have addressed the risk such individuals pose to the public.

Simon also cast doubt on the reliability of electronic tagging as a safeguard. She noted that the technology can tell authorities where someone is, but cannot physically stop them from committing further offences — a limitation that leaves victims dependent on a system that monitors rather than prevents.

Her concerns echoed warnings issued earlier this week by Martin Jones, the Chief Inspector of Probation. He said the electronic monitoring regime had not kept pace with the demands now placed upon it and could create a false sense of assurance unless existing failings were addressed.

Questions also remain over whether the Probation Service has the resources to supervise thousands of additional offenders in the community. The service is already under strain, and the influx of newly released prisoners — many of whom require housing, employment support and ongoing supervision — will test its capacity further over the next two years.

The early release approach is not unprecedented. A comparable programme introduced by the previous Conservative government saw more than 10,000 prisoners freed early between October 2023 and September 2024, a figure that highlights how long-running capacity pressures have shaped penal policy regardless of which party is in power.

As prisoners left custody on Thursday, the BBC spoke to several of those being freed. Michael Bogle, a former bus driver, described conditions inside London's Wandsworth Prison as awful and said tagging was better than prison. Others expressed unease about the lack of support waiting for them on the outside, while one man said he had not known he was being released until Thursday morning.

For victims, the uncertainty surrounding the process has proven deeply unsettling. Kirsty Pellant, who was stalked by a man jailed for five years in January 2025 after she discovered her photograph had been used to create a fake online identity portraying her as a sex worker, said she had been assured her perpetrator would not be freed in the first wave — but had not been told when he would be.

She told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that the lack of clarity left victims in a dangerous position, because they need to know what they are dealing with in order to prepare. Those released early remain liable to be returned to prison if they breach the conditions attached to their licence.