Crimes committed by freed prisoners hit a record high after Labour let more than 79,000 inmates out early

Official Ministry of Justice figures published Thursday show that prisoners released under SDS40 committed 46,459 new offences in the three months after the scheme launched in September 2024 — up from around 34,900 in the same period the previous year. That works out at an average of 7.55 new crimes per released inmate, the highest rate on record. A separate watchdog report found that more than 5,000 people — among them violent and sexual offenders, domestic abusers and stalkers — are at large without the GPS tags courts required them to wear.

Tagging contractor Serco is deemed to have met its performance targets simply by attempting to fit devices, even when the attempt fails.

Prison recalls also hit a record high — 52,716 offenders were returned to custody in the year to June, a 27 per cent surge on the previous year.

Labour's replacement scheme is even more generous, freeing convicts after just 33 per cent of their sentence — and now covers some serious violent offenders for the first time.