“They are letting out sex offenders and thieves early instead of deporting more foreign offenders.”
Conservative figures have accused the Labour government of turning prisons into a “revolving door for criminals,” after party researchers said more offenders have been recalled to custody than released early since Labour took office in July 2024.
According to the Tory analysis of official figures, prisoners have been recalled 54,354 times for breaching licence conditions or reoffending since Labour formed a government. Over the same period, just under 49,000 prisoners were released early under an overcrowding measure introduced by Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer’s administration.
The early release programme, known as SDS40, allows certain inmates to leave prison after serving 40 per cent of their sentence rather than halfway through.
The Ministry of Justice said the comparison was misleading, noting that recall statistics can include the same individual multiple times and people who were originally released years earlier but only recently breached their conditions. The department added that recall rates had also risen sharply in the final years of Conservative government, when early release schemes were similarly used to relieve pressure on prison capacity.
Responding to the figures, Nick Timothy, the shadow justice secretary, said: “Labour has turned our prisons into a revolving door for criminals. They are letting out sex offenders and thieves early instead of deporting more foreign offenders.
“To the surprise of nobody, these criminals have continued to act against the law and break the rules. This is utterly corrosive to public safety and inflicts more harm and suffering on the British public.
“While Labour tolerates this lawlessness, the pressure on our prisons has not eased. What we need is a radical plan for our prisons. Not Lammy’s surrender to crime.”
The dispute comes as Labour prepares further changes to sentencing and release policy. Ministers plan to introduce laws allowing some prisoners to be freed after serving as little as a third of their sentence if they demonstrate good behaviour and take part in rehabilitation programmes such as work, education and training.
The government is also proposing a new presumption against prison terms of under 12 months for lower level offences, replacing them with community penalties supported by wider use of electronic tagging. Officials have warned that without additional measures, the prison system could run out of space within months.
Quarterly figures show that recalls increased by 28.7 per cent, from 9,975 between July and September 2024, shortly after Labour entered office, to 12,836 in the same period in 2025. That compares with 6,824 recalls recorded between January and March 2023.
During the Conservatives’ final months in power, recalls also rose, climbing 43 per cent from 6,824 in the first quarter of 2023 to 9,782 between April and June 2024.
Labour has released 48,932 prisoners early under SDS40 since the scheme began in September 2024. Some releases attracted media attention, including reports of offenders celebrating with drinks on leaving custody.
There have also been high profile cases of people being returned to prison soon after release. Jason Hoganson, a former actor who appeared in the 1980s film Empire State, was recalled within 48 hours after allegedly assaulting his former partner. Another man freed under the scheme has since been charged with murder in London, having originally been jailed for knife related offences.
Despite the use of early release programmes by both Labour and the Conservatives, Ministry of Justice data indicate that the overall prison population has changed little. In July 2024 there were 87,453 inmates in England and Wales, with 1,411 spare operational places. Last week the figure stood at 87,249 prisoners, with capacity for 2,454 more.
An MoJ spokesperson said: “This comparison is misleading, recall figures can include the same person more than once and offenders released years earlier, while SDS40 counts first time releases only.
“Since 2018, recalled offenders have doubled, a symptom of the prison crisis this Government inherited. That’s why we’re reforming recall and building 14,000 extra places, to make sure punishment cuts crime, reduces reoffending and keeps victims safe.”
