The early release scheme has been the subject of heated public debate over the past few weeks, raising alarm bells for victims and their families as well as among probation officers over understaffing issues.  

The early release scheme for prisoners is a policy that allows certain offenders to leave jail weeks or months before their official end date. This is intended to manage severe overcrowding in the prison system and create space for those convicted of serious crimes in the future. This policy will come into force from 1 October 2026, meaning those convicted of less serious offences who currently spend 40% or 50% of their sentence in prison, will leave after a third instead. A second group, currently released after two thirds of their sentence, will leave after serving half.  

“More women will die if ministers include domestic abusers in the early release scheme.”

Prisoners convicted of rape, serious child sex offences and grooming will be excluded from early release after an intervention by Andy Burnham. However, perpetrators of domestic abuse will not be excluded. This has caused widespread anxiety among the victims of domestic violence. Farah Nazeer, the chief executive of Women’s Aid, said it was “really troubling” that they won’t be excluded. The parents of Michaela Hall, who was killed in her own home in Cornwall by her abusive partner Lee Kendall two weeks after he was released from prison on assault charges, have warned that more women will die if ministers include domestic abusers in the early release scheme.  

The Mace asked industry leaders in the prison sector what they thought of the early release scheme. Here are their comments. 

Pia Sinha, Chief Executive of the Prison Reform Trust 

The Prison Reform Trust is an independent UK charity founded in 1981. Its objectives are to create a just, humane, and effective penal system. It operates without government funding, relying instead on voluntary donations and trusts to maintain its total independence when holding the state to account.  

“The government was right to listen to the concerns of victims, but it is between a rock and a hard place. The more exclusions it adds the fewer prison places it saves, making the return of the prison capacity crisis in the coming months ever more likely.  

“The Sentencing Act, which was scrutinised and passed by Parliament, was designed to ensure use of custody could be brought to a sustainable level. We have yet to see an impact assessment of the new policy, but our analysis suggests that around 10,000 people in prison will come under the scope of the exclusions. That is a sizeable number of people who will now spend longer in prison than was intended by the legislation.” 

Enver Solomon, Chief Executive of Nacro  

Nacro is a prominent social justice charity in England and Wales that helps vulnerable people build better lives, reduce crime, and overcome barriers. Founded in 1966, the name originally stood for the National Association for the Care and Resettlement of Offenders.  

“The prime minister understandably wants to prioritise protecting the public but to achieve that requires not just tough measures but also taking steps to ensure prisoners are turned away from a life of crime through measures that rehabilitate them.”  

“This means action to address the causes of their criminal behaviour such as effective drug treatment, mental health support and ensuring no one is released into homelessness.  

“Too often we see too many people revolving in and out of prison because the criminal justice system is not joining up with health, housing and other agencies to prevent further offending and ensure communities are kept safe by being tough on causes of crime.” 

“Too often we see too many people revolving in and out of prison”

Sam Julius, Director of National Influencing & Networks, Clinks  

“Our stance is that everyone knows that prisons are overcrowded, they have been for a long time. If you’re going to send more people to prison for longer periods of time, which is something that we’ve been doing, and the average length of custodial sentences has continued to grow, then you will reach a point where you run out of spaces. We have pretty much got to that point. 

“Our stance is that there is a significant proportion of people in prison that would be better served being supported in the community. If you addressed their needs in the community around poverty, homelessness, substance use issues, then you would actually cut the demand for prison places in the first instance. Then you would get to the stage where you don’t need to be building thousands of prison places because you would be resourcing what we call community provision. 

“We do research every year that analyses the state of that sector. And year on year, the picture gets more and more difficult. The sector is supporting more and more people with more and more complex needs with diminishing resources in terms of funding. So we’re in a really difficult spot because the sector needs resources, it needs funding.  

“Probation plays a really important role, but where that support is there for people that helps them to address drivers of offending, that comes from voluntary organisations. So, in terms of the early release scheme, the organisations that will be supporting the people who come out of prison will be predominantly voluntary organisations.” 

Deborah Coles, Executive Director of INQUEST

INQUEST is the only charity in England and Wales that provides free, independent legal advice and support to families bereaved by a death involving state care, custody, or institutional failings.

“The early prison release scheme is a modest step to ease the prison capacity crisis. Prisons have been bursting at the seams for decades, fuelled by sentence inflation and a sharp increase in the remand population, of which the majority are yet to be convicted of a crime. Another 2000 people remain trapped on IPP sentences.

“Prisons do not deter people from crime nor do they rehabilitate.”

“Prisons do not deter people from crime nor do they rehabilitate. It fails prisoners, their families, victims, and communities. INQUEST sees the effects of extreme prison overcrowding, with prisoners locked in their cells for more than 22 hours a day without access to meaningful activity driving up self-harm, drug usage, violence, and preventable deaths. 

“England and Wales has the highest imprisonment rate in Western Europe. The perilous state of prisons will only be stopped by a radical change in sentencing policy, a halt to prison-building and a dramatic reduction in the prison population. The government must invest in housing, employment, addictions, and mental health and ensure people’s basic needs are met in the community to prevent them from being imprisoned in the first place.”