The number of people being recalled to prison rose by 44% between April and June this year compared to the same period last year, according to government statistics.
Between April and June, 13,338 people were released and 9,782 were recalled for breaching their licence conditions. It means that during that period, for every 100 being freed from prison, 73 people were sent back.
The majority of those cases, 77%, were due to non-compliance, such as not attending probation appointments or missing a curfew deadline, while 24% of cases involved a charge of further offending.
It comes as the second round of people were freed from jail last week, under an early release measure which allows eligible offenders to be freed after serving 40% of their sentence, in a bid to free up space in an overcrowded prison estate.
This policy has been operating under the Labour government since 10 September.
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Before that, between October 2023 and September 2024, the End of Custody Supervised Licence scheme ran as another early release measure, which saw certain inmates freed up to 70 days before the end of their sentence.
This policy was criticised by some in the probation service as a chaotic emergency release scheme, with offenders freed at short notice with little time for preparing accommodation placements or release plans.
Today’s figures include those freed under this measure which the government deems to have had an inflationary impact on the number of recalls – with some suggestions that large probation workloads, combined with the pressures of early release schemes, force an “if in doubt, recall” type culture.
Ian Lawrence, the general secretary of the NAPO union, which represents probation officers, said today’s figures “highlight just how broken the justice system currently is”.
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He added that “when probation is under extreme pressure like we have seen in recent years, the service becomes risk-averse”.
The state of prisons across England and Wales was identified as a problem for Labour days into office.
Even after early release schemes, the male estate is still operating at around 97% capacity, and the women’s estate above 90%.
Rise in self-harm and attacks on staff
Overcrowded conditions across prisons have caused a rise in violence, staff assaults, and self-harm.
New figures released today show record levels of self-harm inside jail.
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In the 12 months to June, there were 76,365 incidents of self-harm in prisons across England and Wales, a 19% increase.
Meanwhile, attacks on staff have soared to their highest level on record, with 10,281 assaults recorded in the 12 months to June, compared with 7,907 a year earlier.
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These were problems highlighted to Sky News when filming inside HMP Elmley in Kent.
The prisons minister Lord Timpson said: “These statistics yet again illustrate the scale of the prison crisis this government inherited and how prisons are failing their basic function to cut crime.
“This new government has already taken urgent action to save the prison system from the point of collapse and we will now make the reforms necessary so that prisons are safer and make better citizens, not criminals.”
