Release on Temporary Licence and the various early release schemes have both attracted an unusually high level of political and media attention over the last two to three years. This page looks at how that row has played out in the press; for a plain account of what has actually changed and what remains only a promise or a threat, see our Policy Changes page.
How the press has covered it
Coverage has tended to split along fairly familiar lines. Right-leaning outlets have generally framed individual abscond or failure cases as evidence of a system letting risk slip through the net, often folding ROTL, the early release schemes and the separate story of prisoners released from custody by administrative error into a single “soft justice” or “prison chaos” narrative, and giving prominent space to opposition and victims’ criticism. Left-leaning outlets and prison-reform voices have tended to argue the opposite case: that gradual, supervised reintegration through work, family contact and stable housing produces better long-term outcomes than releasing someone straight from a cell door, and that the very high compliance rate gets little attention next to the rare failures that make headlines. Broadcasters and wire coverage have generally reported the same incidents and statistics straight, setting out ministers’ defence of the process alongside opposition and campaigner criticism without taking a side. It’s worth saying plainly that a good deal of the loudest “letting prisoners out” coverage in this period is actually about the early release schemes and the mistaken-release story rather than classic day-release ROTL – a distinction that gets blurred often enough that it’s worth bearing in mind.
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