British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s newly formed government plans to expand the early release program for prisoners to address a severe overcrowding issue that
threatens to max out prison capacity within weeks, according to prison governors on Thursday.
The Prison Governors’ Association of Britain announced that they were “reliably informed” of changes coming into effect on Friday. These changes will allow most inmates to serve only 40% of their sentences in prison, down from the current standard of 50%.
Released prisoners will remain under probation supervision and can be re-incarcerated if they reoffend or breach other conditions of their release.
“The changes to release dates will create essential space across the prison system,” the Prison Governors’ Association stated.
The Ministry of Justice, which manages the prison system, did not provide an immediate comment on the changes.
During a trip to Washington on Wednesday, Starmer mentioned that the government would soon address the prison overcrowding issue and criticized the previous administration under former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak for its inadequate handling of the crisis.
The UK has the highest incarceration rate in Western Europe—more than twice that of Germany or the Netherlands—though still significantly lower than the US rate.
Starmer’s Labour Party recently won a landslide election, marking their return to power for the first time since 2010. One of Starmer’s notable early appointments was businessman James Timpson as prisons minister. Timpson, whose firm employs ex-offenders, is a strong advocate for rehabilitation.
The prison governors indicated that overcrowding had worsened under the previous Conservative administration, which had extended some sentences and increased the proportion of time served by serious violent and sexual offenders.
Construction delays and poor maintenance have prevented prison capacity from keeping pace with inmate numbers. Consequently, inmates nearing the end of their sentences were released unexpectedly and without proper planning, raising risks of reoffending and homelessness.
“We are hopeful that the penal populism agenda will become a thing of the past and that this new government will be willing to invest in our service,” the Prison Governors’ Association stated.
However, existing plans suggest that prisons may face budget cuts in the coming years. Photo by Roger Cornfoot, Wikimedia commons.