{
  "id": 14086257,
  "title": "Hundreds more prisoners to be freed in second phase of early release scheme",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/13/hundreds-more-prisoners-to-be-freed-in-second-phase-of-early-release",
  "topic": "world",
  "section": "World",
  "published": "2026-10-13T01:13:33.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "BBC News",
    "slug": "bbc-news",
    "url": "https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cwzrdnrrmgymo?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=rss"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "From Tuesday, approximately 650 more offenders in England and Wales will be released early as part of the second phase of the government's initiative to address the prison population crisis. These individuals will be serving sentences of up to two and a half years for various crimes. Previously, they were eligible for release after serving half of their sentence. The enhanced release criteria now require them to serve only one-third of their term before being set free. This second wave of releases coincides with the government's push to reshape criminal courts and present their proposal before Parliament. However, probation officers are set to vote on whether to strike due to concerns about pay and workload. On October 1st, 700 offenders were released early, all of whom served terms of less than 19 months. The ongoing second stage of releases will continue until June, with sentences of over 12 years being the final batch to be released. The Probation Service Union, known as Napo, has stated that the releases have placed significant strain on their members, who are responsible for monitoring offenders in the community. Typically, those being released will be electronically tagged and must adhere to additional monitoring conditions for the remaining two-thirds of their sentence. Probation officers will convene on Tuesday to deliberate on the outcome of their upcoming vote, which could result in strike action. The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has proposed a 5% pay raise for probation officers, while the MoJ itself sought a 12% increase to compensate for earnings lost due to previous cuts since 2010. The MoJ asserts that the offered 5% increase is reasonable and has been accepted by two other unions. The MoJ also promises a £700 million investment in probation services, which includes the recruitment of 1,300 additional officers and the implementation of AI tools to alleviate the workload associated with monitoring offenders. In parallel, the government is reintroducing its criminal court reform plan to the Parliament after announcing an earlier withdrawal of its most contentious aspect. The revised plan eliminates the proposed new Crown Court format, which would have seen a single judge, without a jury, rendering verdicts for offenses up to three years in prison. However, jury trials will still be abolished for the most intricate and lengthy fraud cases. Moreover, the government intends to retain 5,500 trials within the lower magistrates' court by ending defendants' right to request a jury trial for those offenses. The government aims to expand the utilization of \"blitz\" or \"short trial\" courts, inspired by pilot programs that successfully reduced backlogs by grouping similar cases together. The Old Bailey's pilot resulted in a significant reduction of the 500-case backlog concerning assaults on emergency workers. The government has accepted over 150 of Sir Brian Leveson's recommendations regarding criminal court modernization, which total 180. However, they have declined his suggestion to retain a restriction on volunteer magistrates that limits their ability to imprison offenders for up to 12 months. In the government's plan, magistrates will now have the authority to imprison individuals for up to two years, with the objective of diverting more cases away from the Crown Court to alleviate the backlog issue.",
  "summary": "Second tranche of prisoners will include those serving up to two and a half years for crimes.",
  "key_points": [
    "650 more offenders in England and Wales to be released early in second phase.",
    "Enhanced release criteria require serving one-third of sentence before release.",
    "Ministry of Justice offers 5% pay raise for probation officers, with £700 million investment."
  ],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}