Should Labour scrap the early release scheme?
The UK’s overcrowded prisons running out of space – they are literally days away from capacity. There are construction plans for new jails but they won’t be ready anytime soon. In February, the government started releasing prisoners early to try to deal with the problem. Many prisons are housing two inmates in cells built for one. So what should Labour do? Extend the scheme? Or should the scrap it?
Nick Cowen is associate professor of criminology at the University of Lincoln
Yes: The early release scheme is masking a problem but not solving it
Successive governments have released prisoners before the end of their official sentences into community supervision to ease overcrowding. Yet, many eligible for release have committed serious violence and are at high risk of re-offending. It was an understandable temporary measure, but has become standard practice to hide permanently low prison capacity.
A useful analogy is with inflation. The government sets sentencing guidelines centrally which is followed by courts. Yet there is a mismatch between what the government considers a fair sentence and the resources set aside to carry them out. Just like when too much money chases too few goods in the economy (leading to price rises), we end up convicting too many serious offenders for the cells available. It is as if the police and courts did their jobs ‘too well’ by catching and convicting serious criminals. Early release is a way of hiding that mismatch rather than solving it. For example, a 12-month prison sentence handed down by a court becomes a six-month sentence in “real terms”.
Once this is well known, career criminals become undeterred by the threat of a “long” sentence because they know they are not real. Victims are shocked to see serious offenders back in their community soon after conviction. This undermines public perceptions of justice.
Scrapping early release aligns with the new government’s commitment to long-term investment in Britain’s public infrastructure and to abandoning the shallow public relations tricks played by their predecessors.
Nick Cowen is associate professor in criminology at the University of Lincoln
Antonia May is head of influencing at Switchback
No: We need to move towards safely releasing more people from prison
Our prison system is in an untenable state of crisis. To stabilise the justice system, it is imperative that the government address the prison capacity crisis. The early release scheme is a necessary emergency action.
The failure to tackle the source of demand on our prisons (like reoffending) poses a real danger. There is a prospect of serious riots and the courts no longer having the option of being able to send people to prison.
Safely releasing people from prison is an important goal. We live in a society where we are supposed to seek justice for victims and have a justice system designed to ensure people pay their dues. And there are many clear examples and strong evidence that with the appropriate support it is possible to successfully resettle those who have committed offences back into society. It has been proven (time and again) that this can be done in a way that minimises reoffending, keeps communities safe and reintroduces people as contributing members of society.
The case for ‘adding capacity’ can’t take immediate effect and fails to consider how we would safely staff this. A January 2024 inspection of Five Wells prison discovered that almost 750 officers had been hired since it opened in 2022, but only 272 remained in post.
Early release can be, and has been, enacted effectively. We know that if those eligible are released with access to resettlement support (a well-trained probation officer, mentorship, access to resources and opportunities) people can, and do, live life differently. This would not only impact the capacity crisis but help to reduce reoffending and stabilise the system. For too long, criminal justice policies have been judged on whether they appear “tough” or “soft”, when what really matters is whether they work. With the right support, this works.
Antonia May is head of influencing at Switchback
The Verdict:
Clearly, releasing prisoners early is unlikely to form part of any government’s dream manifesto. But here we are: the Conservative government first opened the doors and Labour is unlikely to close them now – and is even considering opening them wider. Breaking pledges undermines public perceptions of justice as Cowen points out. It could also endanger people. Current rules exempt criminals of sexual, violent and terror crimesm, but they may let domestic abuse perpetrators and other unsavoury offenders out. Setting national parameters is tricky when in reality cases are safer judged on a case by case point.
May is right that many prisoners can be better resettled outside prisons though “If enacted effectively” is key to her argument here. We need a strong probation service to release people safely and effectively. On the whole, seeing as we have the highest incarceration rate in Western Europe (fully higher by half than Germany and a quarter than France) we need to move towards locking up less people. But there are various ways to go about it and the early-release scheme as it’s been enacted so far is far from perfect.