Criminals being set free in a bid to reduce overcrowding at a prison are reoffending and being returned to custody, an inspection report released Wednesday reveals.
The early release scheme — known as the end of custody supervised licence (ECSL) — is designed to free up space to ease prison overcrowding.
The BBC reports a new study shows revealed a quarter of HMP Nottingham prisoners released under the scheme were homeless, leading to “inevitable recalls”, said chief inspector of prisons Charlie Taylor.
The report comes as the left-wing Labour government’s emergency Operation Early Dawn measure to clear UK prison space amid the sentencing of anti-migration rioters, protesters, and social media posters will reportedly see at least 5,500 criminals released early by the autumn, as Breitbart News reported.
Taylor conceded it was “uncertain how many had been recalled”, the number of inmates who were homeless when they were released early was “astonishing.”
He cautioned high-risk offenders are not being given enough attention, despite warnings about the danger they posed.
At HMP Nottingham, preparation for the early release of inmates under the scheme was “often chaotic and rushed”, despite staff “doing their best”, the HM Inspectorate of Prisons report as seen by the BBC said.
“A quarter of prisoners released on this scheme were homeless and although data was not clear, it resulted in inevitable recalls,”Taylor said. “Overall, Nottingham is a jail that is coping with the many challenges that it faces, but it remains a fragile institution that carries a lot of risk within its constantly churning population.”
The early release scheme was introduced by Rishi Sunak’s Conservative administration in October, initially releasing prisoners 18 days early.
More than 10,000 prisoners were released up to 70 days early between October 2023 and June this year under the emergency plan, according to Ministry of Justice (MoJ) figures published last month.
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