Prison population dips 3% as inmates released early to cut overcrowding

The adult prison population has dropped 3% after reaching record levels since the Government started freeing inmates early.

Ministry of Justice (MoJ) figures show there were 85,867 prisoners behind bars in England and Wales on Monday.

This is 1,598 fewer than the 87,465 recorded at the beginning of last week – the day before the second wave of prisoners left jails on early release in a bid to cut overcrowding – indicating the population fell by 1.8% within the seven-day period.

The Government said around 1,100 prisoners were freed early on October 22 from jails across the two nations, suggesting a further 498 people also left under standard release terms in this time frame.

The drop means the operational capacity for English and Welsh men and women’s prisons is 89,008, indicating there is now cell space for 3,141 criminals.

The latest figure is now the lowest weekly count since June 30 last year, when the population was 85,851.

But it also means the prison population is only 3% lower than when the number of inmates being held hit a new record high of 88,521 on September 6, PA news agency analysis shows.

An additional 1,350 cell spaces tend to always be kept free above the overall operational capacity of the prison estate in England and Wales as a contingency measure so jails can cope with a sudden influx of inmates or change in the make-up of the prison population, according to the MoJ.

Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood announced in the summer that the proportion of sentences which some inmates must serve behind bars in England and Wales would temporarily be cut from 50% to 40%.

The policy came into force on September 10, seeing around 1,700 prisoners walk free on the first day, and has applied to all eligible inmates ever since.

Last week’s second mass exodus marked the next stage of the plan coming into effect, as it was extended to include those serving sentences of five years or more.

Prisons are still expected to reach critical capacity again by July.

The Prime Minister has argued the incoming Labour Government had no choice but to act amid accusations of Conservative neglect and defended the move as pictures showed inmates celebrating leaving prison early, with one saying “Big up Keir Starmer”.

Repeating justifications during a speech in Birmingham on Monday, he asked where the “Tory apology” was for the “state of our prisons”, adding: “Watching the prison population rise while they dithered, too weak to either reform sentencing or build new places, too scared to conduct a proper spending review – as we now have because of the damage they knew it would uncover.

“That’s why they ran away from that exercise and called an early election instead. They knew our public services were broken.”

The Government is planning to review the changes after 18 months while also considering a range of long term measures amid efforts to ease pressure on cell spaces.