About 700 prisoners to be freed on 1 October under revised early release plans
The UK government has revised its early prison release plan, delaying the start date to October 1 and excluding specific violent offenses. Approximately 700 prisoners will be released on the first day to alleviate severe overcrowding in England and Wales.
Why it matters
This policy shift highlights the critical capacity crisis in the UK prison system and the government's attempt to balance public safety with infrastructure limitations.
Image source, PA Media By Dominic Casciani , Home and Legal Correspondent and Daniel Sandford , UK correspondent Published 50 minutes ago About 700 eligible offenders will leave jails in England and Wales on the morning of 1 October and some 2,550 will have been released by the end of the year, the government's revised early prison release plan shows.
The new plan, signed into law and published online, shows Andy Burnham's government kept the promised original schedule of how and when offenders will leave jail, aside from delaying the start date by a month and excluding specific offences from the programme.
Under the original plan, offenders serving sentences of up to 19 months would have been eligible from 2 September to walk out of jail after serving a third of that time.
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