UK prison inmates who were released early to reduce prison overcrowding are re-offending and being sent back to jail, an inspection has found.
According to the new HM Inspectorate of Prisons report published this week, a quarter of HMP Nottingham prisoners released under a scheme to free up prison spaces subsequently went homeless, leading to “inevitable recalls”, according to Chief Inspector of Prisons Charlie Taylor.
He added that while it was “uncertain how many had been recalled”, the number of inmates who ended up homeless upon early release was “astonishing”. He also said that preparation for the early release of inmates as part of the scheme was “often chaotic and rushed”, despite staff “doing their best.”
“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.”
Inspectors also found that the prison was “dangerous”, with high levels of violence between prisoners, and self-harm among the inmate population.
“The regime at Nottingham was too restricted, with many prisoners locked in their cells for 22 hours a day,” Taylor said.
“On days when there was staff training, prisoners were behind their doors for 23 hours and did not even get a shower.”
The scheme, which is called the End Of Custody Supervised Licence (ECSL), was first brought in by the Tory government last October. During their tenure, the Tories released 10,000 prisoners under the scheme.
However, the new Labour government plans to expand the policy in September and release even more.
It initially allowed certain prisoners to be released a maximum of 18 days before their release date to free up prison capacity – though this was later expanded to 35 days in March, and 70 days from May. It only applied to prisoners who had served at least 50% of their sentence.