How the UK fought prison overcrowding but lost (4 photos)

Keeping a prisoner is not a financially profitable business. You need to feed them, clothe them, and house them somewhere. But what if there is not enough space?





There are currently 86,000 prisoners in prison in England and Wales. The government looked at this disgrace and decided to fight it. Since October 2023, more than 13,000 prisoners have been gradually released early. Their measure of violation was replaced with a written undertaking and the burden on prisons has been significantly reduced.

But the criminals themselves were, to put it mildly, not thrilled about this. When they are free, they have to earn their own living. A grim prospect, I tell you, in short, most of those who received parole have already successfully committed new crimes and returned to hospitable state institutions.



The local Ministry of Justice has published fresh statistics, which show that every seventh prisoner currently in custody has intentionally violated the terms of their licenses or committed repeat offenses. Between April and June (the last period for which statistics are available), the number of criminals returned to prison increased by 44 percent.





The Justice Department has admitted that early releases are having a significant impact on the number of offenders being returned to prison for breaching licence conditions, amid warnings that they are not well prepared for life on the outside, with a fifth of prisoners being released without the chance to return home.

So they are working on a new system to make it harder to return to prison. They say, why are you bothering people over trifles? They are proposing to only return those who commit really serious crimes.



The Times reported that despite the mass early release of prisoners, national police chiefs have been forced to advise chief constables to make fewer arrests because of a shortage of prison space.