UK Prison Staff Warn Early Release Schemes Chaotic

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Prison Staff Warn Chaotic Early Release Schemes Risk Public Safety and Collapse of Probation Services

 

An overwhelming majority of prison and probation officers have condemned government emergency early release schemes, warning that hasty and poorly managed decisions are jeopardizing public safety and pushing the criminal justice system toward collapse. A major survey of nearly 500 prison and probation staff across England and Wales, conducted by the Skills for Justice organisation, found that 80 percent of workers disapprove of early release initiatives introduced to relieve prison overcrowding.

 

 

Staff described the release schemes as “a shambles,” claiming they led to offenders being freed without tagging, supervision, or access to rehabilitation programmes. “They just viewed it as a fun ‘bonus’ of being out for a few weeks and unlawfully at large,” one prison officer said, recalling three offenders they had seen recalled to custody within days of release.

 

 

The emergency measures began under the Conservative government in autumn 2023, allowing over 10,000 inmates to be released up to 70 days before their sentence’s end. The Labour government replaced this with a new plan allowing inmates to be released after just 40 percent of their sentence. By March this year, more than 26,000 offenders had been released under the updated scheme.

 

Timetables for implementation were reportedly rushed, with serious consequences. One probation officer commented, “It was too rushed. It did not allow sufficient time or resources for prisoners to be released safely. People were not being tagged or monitored. The whole thing was a shambles.”

 

The strain placed on frontline staff was evident. Eighty percent of respondents reported increased stress since the rollout of the schemes, with many warning that insufficient resources, mounting caseloads, and lack of planning had led to dangerous situations. “Workload pressures on probation are immense, and without the appropriate resources to manage all the prison releases, something will go wrong, and the public are at risk of serious harm,” another officer warned.

 

More than 87 percent of those surveyed said the release policies had derailed vital rehabilitation and training activities inside prisons, weakening efforts to reduce reoffending. “This has produced a revolving door of offenders not adequately prepared for release and who reoffend at a higher rate,” a prison worker noted.

 

There was some support for reforms modeled on the U.S. system, with 60 percent backing proposals to tie early release to good behaviour and participation in rehabilitation or training. These plans, inspired by Texas’s prison model, would allow release after serving a third of a sentence for compliant, non-violent inmates. Staff said such a system would help them better plan for inmate reintegration.

 

However, 40 percent wanted early release measures abolished altogether, citing the demoralizing effect on probation workers. “I started this role motivated and ready to do my job but as more and more pressure is placed on us, I feel myself breaking,” one officer said. “Numerous staff members are having to take stress-related sick leave, and I feel the organisation as a whole will collapse should this continue.”

 

Tom Wheatley, president of the Prison Governors’ Association, urged the government to rethink its long-term strategy. “Successive governments have failed to invest in probation in the same way that they have failed to invest in prisons,” he said. “Recruitment and retention policies need to offer pay and conditions of service... that will not only attract high quality recruits but will also encourage them to stay.”

 

Ian Lawrence, general secretary of Napo, echoed the sentiment, saying decades of neglect had left probation services carrying an unfair burden. “We cannot keep expecting probation officers to pick up the pieces,” he said. “We therefore need to ensure the long-term sustainability of the workforce by ensuring people are properly rewarded and supported to do their jobs.”

 

  Adapted by ASEAN Now from Source The Times  2025-08-08