More than 13,000 prisoners in England and Wales were released early under a scheme introduced by the previous Conservative government, new figures show.
The move is likely to have contributed to a sharp rise this year in the number of criminals recalled to custody for breaching the conditions of their release, which can include reoffending.
Some 13,325 prisoners were released early between October 17 2023 and September 9 2024, according to data published by the Ministry of Justice (MoJ).
The scheme, known as End of Custody Supervised Licence (ECSL), continued for a few months after the Conservatives lost the general election in July this year, until it was superseded in September by a separate early release programme introduced by the new Labour Government which has already seen thousands of inmates freed under different terms.
Just over a quarter (26%) of those released under the ECSL scheme had been found guilty of an offence classed as violence against the person, a similar proportion (26%) had been convicted of a theft offence, while nearly one in seven (15%) had been jailed for drug offences.
No prisoners serving time for a sexual offence were released.
Rishi Sunak’s administration insisted the measure would be temporary and only apply to “low-level offenders” as it sought to justify the plan by blaming problems with jails reaching capacity on backlogs exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic and the 2022 barristers’ strike.
But, at the time, prisons watchdog Charlie Taylor branded the situation “entirely predictable” as he raised “serious concerns” about the move which initially saw some prisoners in certain jails released 18 days early. This was increased in March 2024 to a maximum of 35 days and then again in May, which eventually saw criminals being freed from jail up to 70 days before their release date.
Separate figures published on Thursday show there were 9,782 recalls to custody in April to June 2024 of offenders who had breached the conditions of their release, up 44% from 6,814 in the equivalent period in 2023.
This “sharp rise” in quarterly recalls is “likely to be associated with the increase in releases” following the introduction of the ECSL scheme in October 2023, the MoJ said.
There can be more than one reason for recalling an offender on licence – for example, of the 9,782 recalls in the three months to June 2024, 77% involved non-compliance with conditions, 36% involved failing to keep in touch and 24% involved a charge of further offending.
The figures also show the total number of prisoners in England and Wales recalled to custody for breaching conditions of their release stood at 12,579 on September 30 2024, up 5% year on year and a “record high” for the end of a calendar month, the MoJ added.
Of the 13,325 prisoners released early under the ECSL scheme, 35% were serving a sentence of six months or less, while 16% had a sentence between six and 12 months, according to analysis by the PA news agency.
This means just over half of those released (51%) had a jail sentence of less than a year.
A further 16% had a sentence of 12 months to less than two years, 18% had a jail term of two years to less than four years, and 14% were serving sentences of four years of more.
HMP Liverpool accounted for the largest number of prisoners released (402), followed by HMP Altcourse in Merseyside (396), HMP Cardiff (386), and HMP Humber (339).
