More than 13,000 prisoners released early under Tory government scheme

More than 13,000 prisoners in England and Wales were released early under a scheme introduced by the previous Conservative government, new figures show.

The move is likely to have contributed to a sharp rise this year in the number of offenders recalled to custody for breaching the conditions of their release.

Some 13,325 prisoners were released early between October 17 2023 and September 9 2024, according to data published by the Ministry of Justice (MoJ).

The scheme, known as End of Custody Supervised Licence (ECSL), continued for a few months after the Conservatives lost the general election in July this year, until it was superseded in September by a separate early-release programme introduced by the new Labour government.

Separate figures published on Thursday show there were 9,782 recalls to custody in April to June 2024 of offenders who had breached the conditions of their release, up 44% from 6,814 in the equivalent period in 2023.

This “sharp rise” in quarterly recalls is “likely to be associated with the increase in releases” following the introduction of the ECSL scheme in October 2023, the MoJ said.

This means just over half of those released (51%) had a jail sentence of less than a year.

A further 16% had a sentence of 12 months to less than two years, 18% had a jail term of two years to less than four years, and 14% were serving sentences of four years of more.

HMP Liverpool accounted for the largest number of prisoners released (402), followed by HMP Altcourse in Merseyside (396), HMP Cardiff (386), and HMP Humber (339).