Criminals reoffending after being freed early from jail – watchdog
The previous government brought in an early release scheme in a bid to cut prison overcrowding.
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Your support makes all the difference.Criminals freed early in a bid to cut prison overcrowding are being sent back to jail after reoffending, according to a watchdog.
Chief inspector of prisons Charlie Taylor said a quarter of prisoners freed from HMP Nottingham under the previous government’s early release scheme were homeless when they left the jail, resulting in “inevitable recalls”.
The early release scheme – known as End of Custody Supervised Licence (ECSL) – was brought in by Rishi Sunak’s Conservative administration last year in a bid to ease prison overcrowding.
Nottingham is a jail that is coping with the many challenges that it faces, but it remains a fragile institution that carries a lot of risk within its constantly churning population
More than 10,000 prisoners were released up to 70 days early between October 2023 and June this year under the emergency plan, according to Ministry of Justice (MoJ) figures published last month.
Prisoners were initially eligible to be freed 18 days before their conditional release date but that was increased to 35 days in March this year, and then to 70 days in May.
In a report published on Monday, Mr Taylor said preparation for release at the East Midlands category B reception prison was “often chaotic and rushed”, despite staff “doing their best”.
“A quarter of prisoners released on this scheme (ECSL) were homeless and although data was not clear, it resulted in inevitable recalls,” he said.
If prisoners are released from jail on licence, they have to adhere to certain conditions including not committing more crime. If they do, they risk being put back behind bars in what is known as being recalled to prison.
Inspectors described an “enormous churn of prisoners” at the jail which would typically see more than 180 inmates released each month. At the time of the inspection in May, 924 prisoners were being held there.
The early release scheme “undermined the preparation of effective, practical and safe release planning work, in spite of the prison and community probation teams’ determined efforts”, the report said, adding: “These arrangements often resulted in last-minute flurries of activity, only to be compromised further by updated policy changes which came into effect during the inspection.”
According to the findings, the early release scheme was “putting considerable pressure” on prison bosses and the “understaffed offender management unit”.
Mr Taylor branded the number of inmates released early when they were homeless as “astonishing”, but said it was “uncertain how many had been recalled”.
Inspectors also said they were “disappointed” that arrangements put in place to protect the public were “still not good enough, with not enough focus on riskier prisoners coming up to release”, despite this being raised as a “priority concern” in a previous inspection.
“Overall, Nottingham is a jail that is coping with the many challenges that it faces, but it remains a fragile institution that carries a lot of risk within its constantly churning population”, Mr Taylor added.
A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said: “Prisons are in crisis, placing significant pressure on the whole justice system and those working in it.
“That’s why the new Lord Chancellor announced in July that she was scrapping the old early release scheme and replacing it with a system which gives probation staff more time to prepare for a prisoner’s release including providing them with the vital services they need as they leave the prison gates.”