Hundreds of prisoners to walk free as expanded early release scheme begins

A new early release program will free hundreds of prisoners in England and Wales this week, according to government officials. The expanded scheme, introduced to alleviate overcrowding in the prison system, will see around 5,000 inmates set free over the coming months, down from an initial target of 6,000. Prison ministers excluded violent offenders, such as rapists and serious child sex offenders, from the program.

The prison population currently stands at 87,499, a 2% increase from June 29, when it reached 85,761. Prime Minister Andy Burnham faced criticism for initially considering releasing offenders who participated in the 2019 manslaughter of PC Andrew Harper, but Justice Secretary Alex Norris later apologized to victims for the uncertainty caused by the policy changes.

The 2026 Sentencing Act allowed ministers to reduce the threshold for early release from 40% of a sentence to one-third. The expanded scheme began on September 10, 2024, and has already freed over 70,000 prisoners, though numbers have fluctuated since then.