Britain's prisons are running out of space. So they want to release prisoners early

Prisons in Britain are running out of space, and authorities are planning to release some prisoners early to ease the pressure on the system.

According to a report by CNN, prisons are almost 97-98% full and, without urgent action, could reach capacity by November.

To create some headroom, former UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer introduced reforms under which most people serving standard prison sentences will be released earlier than initially planned.


"Adults convicted of less serious offences will be freed after a third of their sentence (rather than 40% or halfway through); others will be released after serving half of their sentence (instead of two thirds). Prisoners will be released 'on license,' equivalent to being on parole, and those convicted of the most serious crimes are excluded from the reforms," CNN reported.

However, this is not the first time the UK has considered releasing prisoners early to ease pressure on its prisons.

In 2010, then Secretary of State for Justice and Lord Chancellor Jack Straw revealed that prisoners had been released under early-release schemes on three separate occasions — in 1984, 1987 and 1991.

In 2007, around 2,500 prisoners were reportedly released under an early-release scheme.

The ECL scheme was brought to an end in 2010, but the issue resurfaced by 2023. In 2024, the then government announced a scheme to release prisoners who had already served 40% of their sentences.

According to the Institute for Government, a London-based think tank, the prison population in England and Wales has doubled over the past 30 years. While overall crime rates have declined over the past decade, longer prison sentences and the slower construction of new prison places have contributed to the continued rise in the number of people behind bars.

The pressure on the prison system has also been compounded by a rise in the number of people recalled to prison for breaching the terms of their release, as well as an increase in the number of defendants held on remand while awaiting trial.

A backlog of pending court cases has further aggravated the pressure on the prison system.