Hundreds of prisoners freed in UK as early release scheme takes effect

Hundreds of eligible offenders are set to leave prisons in England and Wales as the government's early-release scheme took effect Thursday.

The scheme was introduced after the prison system came close to running out of capacity in the summer of 2024, with fewer than 100 spaces remaining.

Under the new rules, eligible offenders serving sentences of up to 19 months can be released after serving a third of their term.

The government has faced criticism over the plan, with the main opposition Conservative Party warning that dangerous criminals could be released under the early-release scheme.

"I think what would make the public less safe is if we had no prison capacity in which to put people who are arrested, suspected of crimes, today," Treasury minister James Murray told Sky News.

Prime Minister Andy Burnham's office said last month that more than 3,200 prison places had already been built under the current government, with 14,000 expected by 2031 under the largest prison expansion since the Victorian era.

As of March, more than 70,000 people had been released under the early-release scheme introduced in 2024.