Prison population down 2% in a week as hundreds of inmates freed early
The adult prison population dropped by more than 2,000 in the week the Government freed hundreds of inmates early.
Ministry of Justice (MoJ) figures showed there were 86,333 prisoners behind bars in England and Wales on Friday.
This is 2,188 fewer than the 88,521 recorded at the end of last week, when the number of inmates being held hit another new record high amid the jail overcrowding crisis, indicating the population fell by 2% within the seven-day period.
The Government said around 1,750 prisoners were freed early on Tuesday from jails across the two nations, suggesting a further 438 people also left under standard release terms.
The drop means the operational capacity for English and Welsh men and women’s prisons is 89,552, indicating there is now cell space for 3,219 criminals.
On Wednesday Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer defended freeing criminals, including some convicted killers, early from prison as he angrily blamed previous government inaction for forcing him into taking urgent steps to tackle the problem.
This week’s mass exodus came after Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood announced plans in July to cut temporarily the proportion of sentences which inmates must serve behind bars from 50% to 40% as the MoJ said overcrowding had pushed jails to the “point of collapse”.
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This seems rather obvious, if you release 2,000 prisoners early then the prison population will have fallen by 2,000. Well done ministry of Justice, what would we do without your statisticians!
I wonder how many will be back in, either cos they can’t resist a spot of crime or they miss the security of a warm cell and regular meals. Dependency at its worst.
Had we had a capable conservative government the last 14 years, this would not have been needed.
Sunak dodged this inevitability on his watch by getting the Tory backside handed them on a plate in an election and leaving the mess for the next government.
Any news on the 10,000+foreign nationals in UK jails. Are they being deported to free up space?
Good idea Linda.