Nearly 40,000 convicted criminals have been released early under Labour’s emergency scheme to ease prison overcrowding, figures from the Ministry of Justice reveal. Between September 2024 and June 2025, 38,042 offenders were let out of prison, including 4,358 in June alone — the second-highest monthly total since the scheme began.
The Home Detention Curfew Scheme allowed 10,835 prisoners to serve part of their sentences at home, with a record 1,850 released on tag in June. A further 25,000 were granted conditional releases. The scheme was launched on 10 September 2024, days after the prison population hit a record 88,521, and permits eligible inmates to be freed after serving 40% of their fixed-term sentence instead of the usual 50%.
Of the early releases, 10,879 (28.6%) were serving sentences of six months or under, and 5,241 (13.8%) were serving between six and 12 months. Shadow Justice Secretary Robert Jenrick said: “Under this Government, crime pays. Already 38,000 offenders have been released early – and soon tens of thousands will avoid prison altogether. Criminals will be licking their lips, free to offend and wreck our communities all over again.”
Separate government plans will see killers and rapists released early, while 43,000 criminals will avoid jail entirely. Most convicts will be tagged and electronically monitored after serving just a third of their sentence, followed by a third under house arrest, and then released on licence. Sentences of less than 12 months will be abolished in most cases, and only the most extreme offenders will be refused release at the halfway point.
