HUNDREDS of prisoners are being released early across England and Wales today as Labour’s controversial new sentencing regime comes into force, with domestic abusers, stalkers and violent offenders among those potentially eligible to spend less of their sentences behind bars.
Around 700 offenders are expected to leave prison on Thursday, October 1, in the first wave of a phased programme which the Government estimates will result in around 4,500 additional releases between now and June next year.
The changes, introduced under the Sentencing Act 2026, are designed to tackle a severe shortage of prison places, but have provoked anger and fear among some victims, as well as warnings about whether the already stretched probation and electronic monitoring systems are equipped to cope.
For many prisoners serving standard determinate sentences, the minimum point at which they can be released on licence is being cut to one-third of their sentence.
That means an eligible offender who would previously have been released after serving 40 or 50 per cent of a sentence can now potentially leave prison after 33 per cent.
More serious offenders serving another category of standard determinate sentence, previously released after two-thirds, can in eligible cases be released after half.
The legislation came into force today, with the Government staggering its introduction according to sentence length to avoid thousands of prisoners leaving on the same day.
Today’s first tranche covers prisoners serving sentences of less than 575 days, just under 19 months, with the Ministry of Justice estimating around 700 additional releases.
Further waves will follow, including around 650 prisoners from October 13, another 650 from November 10 and around 550 from December 8. Longer-serving prisoners will progressively become subject to the new arrangements into June 2027.
The Government’s modelling estimates around 4,500 additional prisoners will be released on the first days of the various tranches, although officials stress that these are estimates rather than precise totals. For comparison, more than 4,500 determinate-sentence prisoners are ordinarily released from custody in a typical month.
Domestic abusers among those eligible
Among the most contentious aspects of the scheme is that some offenders convicted of domestic abuse-related crimes can qualify.
Those being released under the changes can include offenders convicted of fraud, assault, stalking and controlling or coercive behaviour, depending on the precise offence and sentence.
The BBC reported that today’s releases include people convicted of domestic abuse and coercive control.
The prospect has caused considerable alarm among victims.
Domestic Abuse Commissioner Dame Nicole Jacobs said she had heard of survivors moving home, changing their children’s schools and even leaving the country because they did not trust the safeguards surrounding the release of their abusers.
One woman, Karen Haynes, told The Telegraph that she and her children planned to emigrate and assume new identities because her former husband could be released after serving a third of his sentence for coercive and controlling behaviour.
Women’s Aid reported that 78.9 per cent of victim-support groups it surveyed said victims were frightened for their children’s safety, with some relocating or entering refuges ahead of perpetrators being released.
Government forced to retreat over some serious criminals
The Burnham Government has already been forced to amend its original plans following fierce opposition to the prospect of some serious offenders benefiting.
Particular outrage surrounded Albert Bowers and Jessie Cole, who were each sentenced to 13 years for the manslaughter of PC Andrew Harper, who died after being dragged behind a getaway car while responding to a burglary in Berkshire in 2019.
Under an earlier version of the Government’s proposals, the pair could have qualified for earlier release.
PC Harper’s mother, Debbie Adlam, campaigned against the move, while 50 police chiefs reportedly called for emergency legislation to prevent their release. Prime Minister Andy Burnham subsequently announced that unlawful killing, including manslaughter, would be excluded from the scheme.
Rape, serious child sexual offences and grooming offences are also excluded, following changes announced by the Government.
Life prisoners and some offenders already subject to extended sentences are also outside the scheme.
But coercive control, stalking and harassment are not automatically excluded, a distinction which has attracted criticism from domestic abuse campaigners.
Can the tagging system cope?
Ministers insist release from prison will not mean unrestricted freedom.
The Government is promising a major expansion of electronic monitoring, alongside tougher licence conditions and new restriction zones intended to control where certain offenders can go.
But the policy begins against the backdrop of troubling findings from His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Probation.
An inspection found that only 55 per cent of GPS and radio-frequency tags examined were fitted on time, while some offenders faced delays of up to five months. Inspectors also found that major violations were raised and explored in only 46 per cent of relevant cases.
Chief Inspector of Probation Martin Jones warned there was a danger that electronic monitoring could create a “false sense of assurance” unless the technology was backed by effective professional practice.
The findings are particularly significant because electronic monitoring forms an important part of the Government’s argument that offenders can safely spend a greater proportion of their sentences in the community.
The Ministry of Justice says it is investing £100million in what it describes as the biggest expansion of tagging in British history, alongside a £700million investment in probation and community services. It says 2,300 trainee probation officers have been recruited over the previous two years, with another 1,300 being recruited this year.
Why is Labour doing it?
At the heart of the policy is a brutal problem for ministers, England and Wales are running desperately short of prison space.
The Ministry of Justice says the Sentencing Act is intended to prevent the prison capacity crisis developing into a wider breakdown of the criminal justice system, with insufficient cells available for people being remanded or sentenced by the courts.
Labour say when they took office in 2024, the prison estate was already close to capacity and they introduced the emergency SDS40 scheme, under which eligible prisoners who would ordinarily have been released halfway through their sentences could be released after 40 per cent.
However, the new system now goes even further, reducing the minimum release point to one-third for many eligible standard determinate sentences.
The Government argues that offenders will not simply be set free, but will spend a greater proportion of their sentence under supervision in the community, where they can be recalled to prison if they breach their licence.
Critics counter that transferring thousands of offenders from overcrowded prisons to an already pressured probation system merely shifts the burden rather than solving it.
Even after the additional releases, Chief Inspector of Prisons Charlie Taylor warned last month that the prison population would remain “extremely high” and overcrowding would continue.
He warned that poor prison conditions, drugs, violence and inadequate rehabilitation could contribute to further offending and recalls, putting yet more pressure on available cells.
Releases continue until next summer
Today is therefore only the beginning.
The phased timetable runs until June 2027, eventually reaching prisoners serving sentences of more than 12 years, although eligibility still depends on the offence and type of sentence.
The Government argues the staggered approach allows the prison and probation services to prepare for each group rather than dealing with one enormous release day.
Ministers also say prisoners who behave badly can be kept in custody beyond the new minimum release point.
But for victims who expected an offender to remain behind bars for substantially longer, those assurances may provide little comfort.
The controversy leaves Labour facing a difficult question at the start of its new sentencing regime, whether reducing the proportion of sentences served inside prison can relieve an undeniable capacity crisis without transferring unacceptable risks and pressures into communities.
For hundreds of offenders, that experiment begins today.
