A record 52,716 offenders were recalled to jail after Labour's early release scheme, with MORE sent back than freed

Dangerous criminals on intensive community supervision were charged with 281 serious further offences — including murders and rapes — in the year to March 2026, an 11% rise on the previous year and the highest figure on record, according to Ministry of Justice data. The increase comes in the wake of Labour's SDS40 early release scheme, which cut the portion of sentences prisoners must serve from 50% to 40%, with 79,274 inmates freed early between September 2024 and June 2026.

Shadow justice secretary Nick Timothy said Labour 'originally wanted to let rapists out early and only backed down at the last minute after Conservative pressure.'

Tatton MP Esther McVey pressed ministers in Parliament on offenders being let out with tents but no electronic tags owing to a shortage, questioning whether they would be 'roaming the streets free to commit more crime.'

The elevated recall rate is itself deepening the prison overcrowding the scheme was meant to relieve — with more offenders returned to custody than were released in every quarter so far this year.