About 700 eligible offenders are leaving jails in England and Wales today, 1 October, as part of the government's early prison release plan. An additional 2,550 offenders are due to be released by the end of the year under the same scheme.
The early release plan, which Parliament passed, comes into force today. It applies to approximately 70,000 offenders who were expected to serve half their sentence in jail and half in the community. These eligible prisoners will now leave at the one-third point of their sentence.
The initial group of eligible prisoners are those jailed for up to 19 months. From November, the scheme will extend to offenders serving up to three years and two months. By next June, serious offenders on fixed terms of more than 12 years will become eligible, potentially serving half their time behind bars instead of two-thirds.
The total length of sentences for these offenders has not changed, only the date they become eligible to serve part of their sentence in the community. Around 18,000 inmates, including those convicted of murder, manslaughter, sexual or grooming-related offences, or driving offences leading to death, are excluded from the scheme.
Upon release, offenders will be on licence, meaning they could be recalled to prison for breaching conditions such as failing to attend probation appointments or committing another crime. The new rules, known as "Earned Progression", are intended to encourage reform through enhanced monitoring and intensive supervision, which includes more released prisoners wearing electronic tags.
The government states that the probation service has recruited 1,300 more staff and received new AI tools to assist in overseeing offenders. However, Martin Jones, the independent inspector of the service, has expressed that he is "not fully confident" the system will cope, and a recent report warned that almost half of offenders were not tagged promptly.