Nearly half of the prison places freed by the early release scheme were filled within 10 days @AlexJJNorris @CeeMacBee @POAUnion @POAnatchair @Nacro @EnverSol @PGA_Prisons @PRTuk @HMIPrisonsnews @charlie_taylor6 @HMIProbation @NotThatBigIan @DannyShawNews @PrisonStorm @TheCriminalBar @JamesDRossiter @thebarcouncil telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/10…

The Tories have pledged to end the early release of offenders from jail by building 50,000 new prison places @NJ_Timothy @KemiBadenoch @AlexJJNorris @CMcKinnellMP @AlexDaviesJones @JakeBenRichards @POAnatchair @POAUnion @PGA_Prisons @PoliceInspForum @HMIPrisonsnews @charlie_taylor6 @HMIProbation @PrisonStorm @NotThatBigIan @DannyShawNews telegraph.co.uk/politics/202…

Hundreds of prisoners will be “doubled up” in temporary cells designed for one person under plans to avoid jails running out of space @AlexJJNorris @CMcKinnellMP @POAnatchair @POAUnion @PGA_Prisons @PoliceInspForum @HMIPrisonsnews @charlie_taylor6 @PrisonStorm @NotThatBigIan @PRTuk @PoliceChiefs telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/09…

NEW: PRISON EARLY RELEASE ANALYSIS In its latest announcement on the prison capacity crisis, @MoJGovUK says it’s “accelerating” construction of extra prison places. It’s bringing forward £110m funding from its existing investment plans, to repurpose unused prison office space, laundry rooms & storage sites. MoJ says it’ll lead to “hundreds” of additional places... but it hasn't given any other details yet (which always makes me suspicious…). MoJ also still can’t say when building work will start on 2 new mega prisons in Buckinghamshire & Lancashire, saying only that they will be opened by 2031. These projects are the cornerstone of its plan to add 14,000 extra places. But the delays are really worrying - I’d be surprised if they both remain on schedule, given how long it takes to build a jail. 14,000 new places in 5 years? That's a stretch. I’m also not convinced Govt’s other measures to free up space will help as much as they expect - releasing prisoners given IPPs (indeterminate sentences for public protection) & foreign national prisoners (FNPs). First, a very careful risk assessment will rule out many hundreds of IPP prisoners from release, while a large proportion of those who are let out are likely, on current evidence, to be sent back to jail for licence breaches or reoffending. This is not a quick or easy fix. The plan to deport more FNPs was in the 2026 Sentencing Act - it is not a new announcement. Therefore, I’d expect any projected benefits to prison capacity to have already been factored in. Over past 20+ years govts have struggled to increase FNP deportations, for a variety of reasons. The new powers should make it faster but there’s a balance between removing people promptly & ensuring they face justice. At the same time, the headroom created by the ‘earned progression’ model, ie, early release for determinate sentence prisoners at 1/3 or 1/2 of their sentence, is being whittled away by the exclusions from the scheme approved by Andy Burnham. The full list of offences on the MoJ website (link at the bottom of this) applies to around 1,400 existing prisoners who would have been let out by June next year. So that’s 1,400 places to be found in 9 months. But that’s not all. Everyone newly convicted & given fixed-term jail sentences for those offences will also be excluded from early release: that’s likely to be thousands more prison places over several years that will be filled.  Andy Burnham’s list of excluded offences (which should have been there from the start, when the earned progression model was devised) has created a new prison capacity headache. But limiting the use of remand & freeing non-violent offenders would have been a more effective way of finding the space than the proposals he has settled on. gov.uk/government/publicatio…

More offenders will now stay behind bars for longer. Prime Minister @andyburnham and Lord Chancellor @AlexJJNorris, block manslaughter, death by drink or dangerous driving and historic child sex offences from sentencing changes. gov.uk/government/news/prime…

It’s been a long time coming and pleased the PM has stepped up. Here are some things that can be done in the interim: 1) The MoJ should urgently consider each IPP for release under RARR. RARR needs to be operated positively on the presumption they will be released unless….

A few initial thoughts on what has been announced this morning on changes to the early release scheme. First, it has to be acknowledged that this is a very difficult issue for whoever is in office. For decades, sentences have been increased, as has the prison population. 1/

701 fewer front line prison officers than a year ago. Meanwhile at HQ a record 6,323 people - a 10% *increase*. No one knows what they do. No minister ever asks the obvious questions when prisoners banged up 23/7. 22% of a national law enforcement agency is now 'non-operational'.

A survivor of Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) and life saving hero of Fishmongers Hall speaks out.

Dangerous offenders should be under no illusion – if they break the rules, our tags mean we’ll know about it and can put them back behind bars. That’s why I’m launching the biggest expansion of tagging in British history, putting more criminals than ever under 24/7 surveillance.

"Early Release is an option but it needs to be managed far more carefully by ministers - and I didn't see that attention to detail" Sir Robert Buckland, former Justice Secretary, criticises David Lammy's time in the role. #Newsnight