Thousands of London Prisoners Freed Early Under Government’s Overcrowding Scheme

New data reveals that thousands of London prisoners have been released early under the Government’s emergency early release scheme, designed to ease severe overcrowding in prisons.

The scheme, introduced on September 10 last year, came shortly after the prison population hit a record 88,521 inmates. It allows certain prisoners to be freed after serving 40% of their sentence, instead of the usual 50%.

According to the Ministry of Justice (MoJ), 745 prisoners have been released early from HMP Brixton, the highest number among London prisons. Nationally, 38,042 inmates across England and Wales have benefited from the policy, with HMP Humber near Hull recording the most releases at 1,126.

The current Labour government scheme replaced a similar early-release programme operated by the previous Conservative administration, which saw 13,325 prisoners freed early between October 2023 and September 2024.

A MoJ spokeswoman defended the policy, saying the Government took “decisive action to stop prisons from collapsing” after inheriting a system “in crisis.” She stressed that public protection remains a top priority, noting that offenders released early face strict conditions such as electronic tagging and exclusion zones, and can be recalled to prison for breaching the rules.

To tackle the capacity issue long-term, Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood introduced a Sentencing Bill in Parliament in September, pledging that prisons would “never run out of space again.”

However, new figures show that between April and June 2025, there were 11,041 recalls of offenders who violated their release conditions — a 13% increase from the same period in 2024 and a 62% rise since 2023. The MoJ said this sharp rise is likely linked to the expanded early release scheme.

The system has also faced embarrassment after Epping migrant sex offender Hadush Kebatu was mistakenly freed from prison instead of being transferred to an immigration centre.

Chief Inspector of Prisons Charlie Taylor described the incident as a sign of “chaos within the prison system,” adding that frequent rule changes around early releases are “making life difficult for prisons.”