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The UK government is releasing approximately 650 prisoners early on Tuesday as part of the second phase of its plan to address prison overcrowding in England and Wales. These offenders will serve a third rather than half of their sentences, with this batch including those serving up to two and a half years. The release comes amid tensions between probation officers, who fear increased workload, and the Ministry of Justice, which has offered a 5% pay rise alongside AI tools and additional staff to manage released prisoners.
Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-10-13,
using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the
same event (that is the story summary below).
Story summary
On Tuesday, about 650 prisoners will be released early from jails in England and Wales as part of the government's plan to address the prison population crisis. These offenders are serving sentences up to two and a half years and will leave jail after completing one-third instead of half of their sentences. This marks the second phase of releases, following the initial release of 700 prisoners on October 1st who were all serving terms under 19 months. The government plans to continue releasing batches of offenders with longer sentences until June, when those serving more than 12 years will also be eligible for early release. Despite this plan, probation officers are considering a potential strike over pay and workload issues as they prepare to monitor these released offenders in the community.
Written for “Prisoner Release Scheme” on 2026-10-13,
grounded in this article and the 0 other(s) covering the same event.
Why this leaning score
The model judged this article politically coded and scored it -0.35, but every quote it verified points right, so the score is not published.
Written under an earlier scoring contract, which gave a paragraph
rather than checkable quotes. Re-analysing this article replaces it.
Leaning score withheld for article 75467: score contradicts its own evidence · logged 2026-10-13
- Published
About 650 more offenders will leave jails in England and Wales early on Tuesday in the second phase of the government's plan to tackle the prison population crisis.
asserted
offenders → publish → crisis
The group will include offenders serving up to two and a half years for crimes.
asserted
group → include → crimes
Under the new rules, they are leaving jail after serving a third of their sentence behind bars, rather than half.
asserted
they → leave → bars
The second wave of releases comes as the government takes its plan to radically overhaul criminal courts back to Parliament - but also as probation officers prepare to vote in a ballot that could lead to a strike over pay and workload.
uncertain
that → come → pay
Some 700 offenders left jail early on 1 October - all of whom were serving terms of less than 19 months.
asserted
all → leave → months
Monday's second stage begins the process of releasing batches of offenders serving increasingly long sentences - culminating next June with those serving more than 12 years.
asserted
stage → begin → years
Napo, the probation service union, said the releases have put enormous strain on its members, who are charged with monitoring the offenders in the community.
asserted
who → say → community
Typically, those being released should expect to be electronically tagged and subject to other monitoring conditions for the second third of their sentence.
asserted
those → release → sentence
On Tuesday, the union's members will meet to discuss next week's vote, which could lead to strike action.
uncertain
which → meet → action
Probation officers have been offered a 5% pay rise by the Ministry of Justice (MoJ), while it had demanded 12% as part of a plan to make up for loss of earnings caused by cuts from 2010.
asserted
it → offer → 2010
The MoJ says the offer is fair and has been accepted by two other unions and is twinned with a £700m investment in probation to recruit 1,300 extra officers and the roll-out of AI tools to cut the workload of monitoring offenders.
asserted
offer → say → offenders
While the second phase of prison releases gets under way, the government is bringing its criminal court reform plan back before MPs, after announcing a week ago that it had abandoned the most controversial element of it.
asserted
it → get → it
The revised plan drops proposals for a new form of Crown Court where a judge alone, sitting without a jury of ordinary people, would reach a verdict against suspects facing up to three years in prison.
asserted
judge → revise → prison
However, jury trials will still be scrapped for the most complex and long fraud cases - and another 5,500 trials will be kept in the lower magistrates court by ending a defendant's right to ask for a jury trial.
asserted
trials → scrap → trial
The government says it will expand the use of so-called "blitz" or "short trial" courts after pilots have shown that grouping similar cases together can speed up their progression through the courts - cutting backlogs.
asserted
grouping → say → backlogs
One of the pilots at the Old Bailey led to the London backlog of 500 cases concerning assaults on emergency workers being cut in half over the summer.
asserted
backlog → lead → summer
A major review of criminal courts by former appeal judge Sir Brian Leveson recommended more virtual hearings for defendants to slash wasted time bringing them to and from cells.
asserted
defendants → recommend → cells
The government has now ordered pilots for defendants to appear direct from police cells.
asserted
defendants → order → cells
On Monday, the government announced it had accepted more than 150 of his 180 recommendations to modernise the criminal courts.
asserted
it → announce → courts
It has rejected his advice to retain a restriction on volunteer magistrates that means they can only jail an offender for 12 months.
asserted
they → reject → months
Under the government's plan magistrates will have the power to jail for up to two years - the aim being to keep more cases out of Crown Court, to help clear backlogs.
asserted
aim → have → backlogs
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