Prison staff expose 'shambles' of early release scheme as they back new plan

Almost three in five prison and probation staff (59%) are in favour of releasing prisoners early for good behaviour, polling shows.

Officers working in jails and those who monitor the release of inmates back Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood ’s plans to bring in a Texas-style behaviour model. It comes as the polling also revealed some 80% of officers were against both the Tories’ and Labour's emergency early release schemes, which saw thousands urgently freed to create more jail space.

Some 87% of staff said the plans derailed day-to-day activity and 80% said work-related stress had increased since the schemes’ introduction. One staff member told the survey the release plans had been a “shambles”, adding: “It was too rushed. It did not allow sufficient time or resources for prisoners to be released safely. People were not being tagged or monitored. The whole thing was a shambles.” It comes after The Mirror’s Kevin Maguire wrote: 'Labour must find engaging story for the UK - or face election wipeout'.

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Another said staff members are having to take stress leave as the workload is unmanageable. “I started this role motivated and ready to do my job but as more and more pressure is placed on us, I feel myself breaking,” they said. “The job role, currently, is unmanageable, stressful, and ridiculous. Numerous staff members are having to take stress related sick leave, and I feel the organisation as a whole will collapse should this continue.”

Another added: “Workload pressures on probation are immense, and without the appropriate resources to manage all the prison releases, something will go wrong, and the public are at risk of serious harm.” More than 10,000 people were released under the Tories’ End of Custody Supervised Licence (ECSL) scheme, which was launched in October 2023.

Under the plan, certain prisoners were released up to 70 days early. This was increased from an initial 18-day early release, then from 35 days. The scheme was widely criticised for not giving enough time for probation services to efficiently plan for the release plans of offenders, with just a day’s notice given at times.

Last September, Ms Mahmood ordered a new scheme to automatically release low-risk prisoners after serving 40% of their sentence - down from 50%. The scheme introduced exclusions for prisoners serving time for serious violent or sex offences.

The Labour government, following a major review of the system, is looking to introduce an “earned progression” model, inspired by prisons in Texas. It would see inmates on standard sentences of up to four years released after serving a third of their time inside if they behave well.

Jon Czul, managing director at Skills for Justice, which did the report, said: “Whilst the measures introduced last September are generally viewed as an upgrade on previous arrangements, the circumstances in which prisons and probation services were expected to implement and deliver the policy has been met with disapproval.

“For understaffed prisons and probation services, the sheer volume of prisoners needing to be processed in such a short timeframe has contributed to the sense that workloads in the sector are increasingly unmanageable.”

Ian Lawrence, general secretary of probation service trade union Napo, said: “Decades of underinvestment in prisons meant that once breaking point came, the burden fell disproportionately on the shoulders of probation services. We cannot keep expecting probation officers to pick up the pieces.”

Skills for Justice surveyed 481 respondents in May and June 2025. Prison Officers’ Association, Prison Governors’ Association, Napo, Probation Institute and Community Union supported the survey data collection.

A Ministry of Justice spokesman said: “This Government inherited prisons days from collapse and had no choice but to take decisive action to stop jails overflowing – an event that would have been cataclysmic for frontline staff.

“To ensure we never run out of prison places again, we are building 14,000 prison places and reforming sentencing so our jails reduce reoffending, cut crime, and keep victims safe.”

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