50,000 prisoners to be freed early in bid to tackle overcrowded jails
Why thousands of UK prisoners have been freed early
- Nearly 50,000 prisoners have been granted early release from jails across England and Wales under a government scheme by the end of September 2025.
- The initiative, launched in September 2024 to ease overcrowding, allows eligible inmates to be freed after serving just 40 per cent of their fixed-term sentence.
- The majority of those released early were British nationals, with 30 to 39-year-olds forming the largest age group, and many serving shorter sentences.
- Ministry of Justice data also shows a historically high level of recalls to custody, with 12,836 offenders breaching release conditions between July and September 2025, a 29% increase on the previous year.
- This rise in recalls is attributed to the early release scheme and changes in law regarding fixed-term recalls, while the Labour Government has pledged to create 14,000 new prison places by 2031.
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