On 1 October 2026, around 700 prisoners in England and Wales walked free as the first wave of an expanded early release scheme got under way. The scheme lets eligible offenders leave custody after serving roughly a third of their sentence, rather than the usual proportion, and the Ministry of Justice expects about 5,000 releases over the coming year through the same route.
Ministers say the measure is needed to stop the prison system from reaching breaking point after a summer in which the population jumped by over 1,700 inmates. A number of serious offences are excluded from the scheme altogether, including rape, serious child sexual offences, offences involving grooming gangs, and manslaughter. Officials point to expanded electronic tagging, exclusion zones and bans from pubs and clubs as part of what they describe as tougher supervision for those released early.
The move has drawn sharp criticism. The Victims’ Commissioner, Claire Waxman, warned that “bold assertions in press releases are no substitute for effective planning,” while the chair of the Probation Officers’ professional body, Ben Cockburn, pointed to severe staff shortages and already high caseloads in the probation service that will now need to supervise those released. For anyone affected by a loved one’s release under this scheme, the licence conditions and reporting requirements are likely to matter just as much as the release date itself.
Source: ITV News, 1 October 2026