LONDON, United Kingdom — About 700 prisoners were released from jails across England and Wales on Thursday as a new sentencing system designed to relieve prison overcrowding took effect.
The releases on Thursday, October 1, 2026, were the first under the progression model created by the Sentencing Act 2026, which changes how much of a fixed prison term many offenders must serve in custody before completing the remainder under licence in the community.
The Ministry of Justice estimates that about 4,500 prisoners will be released on the first days of 10 implementation stages running through June 2027.
Thursday’s group, estimated at 700, was the largest single tranche.
Unlike temporary emergency-release measures previously used when prisons approached capacity, the new release points form part of a permanent sentencing framework.
Under the new system, eligible adults serving standard determinate sentences who previously reached their release point after 40 or 50 per cent of their sentence can, in many cases, become eligible after serving one-third.
A separate category of prisoners whose custodial portion had generally been two-thirds can reach release after half of the sentence.
The law does not guarantee release at the earliest point regardless of conduct. Prisoners who breach prison rules can be required to remain in custody longer.
The Sentencing Act, which received royal assent in January, formally changed those statutory release proportions.
The Ministry of Justice said the 10-stage rollout was designed to prevent large numbers of prisoners becoming eligible on the same day.
Its modelling puts the successive first-day release groups at approximately 700, 650, 650, 550, 600, 500, 200, 200, 250, and 250.
Prisons normally release about 4,500 people serving determinate sentences in an average month for reasons unrelated to the new tranches, according to the ministry.
Government Narrowed Eligibility Before Rollout
The scheme was substantially revised before it began.
Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s government excluded several categories of offenders after objections from victims’ families and campaigners.
Those serving sentences for rape, serious child sexual offences, grooming offences, manslaughter, indecent assault, and other offences involving unlawful killing are excluded from the progression model.
The government also barred people convicted of offences including causing death by dangerous driving and causing or allowing the death of a child from benefiting from the earlier release dates.
Prisoners serving life sentences are outside the system, as are serious violent and sexual offenders serving extended determinate sentences.
Those prisoners remain subject to their existing release arrangements, including Parole Board scrutiny where applicable.
More than 18,000 prisoners are outside the progression model because of the type of sentence they are serving, the Ministry of Justice said.
Its modelling estimated that another 1,400 prisoners who might otherwise have qualified for one of the staged releases became ineligible because of the additional offence exclusions.
The changes included a reversal for the men convicted of manslaughter in the death of Police Constable Andrew Harper, who was dragged behind a vehicle while responding to a burglary in Berkshire in 2019.
After objections from Harper’s family and other bereaved families, the government excluded all manslaughter convictions from the new release arrangements.
Claire Waxman, the Victims’ Commissioner for England and Wales, has repeatedly pressed the government for assurances about supervision, victim notification, and protection.
On the eve of the releases, Waxman said ministers’ confidence in the safeguards was “not yet matched by the reality on the ground”.
She said electronic monitoring and licence restrictions would protect victims only if they were properly implemented and breaches were acted upon.
The first release date had originally been planned for September but was postponed until October while ministers reviewed eligibility and safeguards.
Waxman had welcomed that delay while warning that victims were already experiencing uncertainty about when offenders would leave custody.
The government maintains that the greater danger would be allowing prisons to reach their physical limit, leaving courts and police without cells for newly convicted or arrested offenders.
