Thousands to Be Freed Early as Prisons Near Capacity
The prison system in England and Wales is close to running out of space, with a senior official warning that male prisons could be full by November and fewer than 1,800 places left. Up to 5,000 inmates on standard sentences will become eligible for release at the one-third point, and recalled offenders freed after 28 days, to ease the crisis. The Justice Secretary, Shabana Mahmood, pledged £4.7bn for new prisons but said the country “cannot build its way out”.
The measures mark a further loosening of sentencing rules that ministers have resisted calling a mass early-release scheme, even as the numbers make it one. Prisons have been at breaking point for years, the result of longer sentences, a growing remand population and too little building, and the consequences now ripple outwards: the Public Accounts Committee has warned of “total gridlock” in which courts cannot sentence because there is nowhere to put offenders. Freeing inmates earlier relieves the immediate pressure but risks public backlash if they reoffend, and does nothing to fix the underlying shortage. Ms Mahmood’s building programme will take years to deliver. Watch whether the November deadline slips and how victims’ groups respond.