Prison population hits highest number in almost a year and near-record levels

The prison population of England and Wales has jumped to the highest number in nearly a year and is nearing record levels, despite the early release of tens of thousands of offenders, official figures show.

A total of 88,238 people were in jail as of Monday, up 231 on the previous week and a rise of more than 1,200 in the past two months, according to data published by the Ministry of Justice.

There are just 283 fewer prisoners now than the record high of 88,521 reached in September last year during the aftermath of the summer riots in towns and cities across the UK.

The spike comes despite Government efforts to ease overcrowding by freeing some 26,456 offenders early since last year.

The scheme was launched as an emergency measure in September, with eligible inmates serving more than five years released after serving only 40% of their fixed-term sentence, rather than the usual 50%.

Ministers have since announced further plans to free up space following a major independent review by former Conservative Lord Chancellor David Gauke.

Prisoners in England and Wales, including some serious offenders, could be released after serving a third of their sentence under the reforms, though some inmates, including those with terror convictions, will not be eligible.

Meanwhile, more foreign criminals will be deported before their appeals have been heard as the Government expands its “deport now, appeal later” scheme.

Offenders from another 15 countries, including India, Bulgaria and Australia, will now be included in the scheme, bringing the total to 23 countries under the plans announced on Monday.

The Government said the expansion of the programme would help “scale up” the country’s ability to remove foreign criminals, alongside other measures announced on Sunday to deport offenders as soon as they are sentenced.

Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood said the move, which requires parliamentary approval, would save £54,000 a year per prison place.

Officials have said increasing deportations will help ease pressure on overcrowded prisons.

But figures from the Ministry of Justice from the end of June suggest there are currently just 772 prisoners from the 15 new countries covered by “deport now, appeal later”.

The current scheme for the early release of inmates replaced a separate scheme introduced by the previous Conservative government.

Under this separate process, known as End of Custody Supervised Licence (ECSL), 13,325 prisoners in England and Wales were freed early between October 17 2023 and September 9 2024.

The ECSL scheme initially saw some inmates in certain jails released 18 days early.

This was increased in March 2024 to a maximum of 35 days early, then again in May that year, which eventually saw offenders being freed from jail up to 70 days before their release date.