Around 650 prisoners set for early release in England and Wales

Around 650 more offenders will leave jails in England and Wales on Tuesday in the third phase of the government plan to ease overcrowding, BBC News reported. This wave applies to offenders serving sentences of up to three years and two months for their crimes. [1]

Under the current rules, participating inmates are leaving jail after serving no more than a third of their sentence behind bars rather than half, BBC News reported. As FTMQ News reported earlier, a previous release phase on 13 October applied to offenders serving up to two and a half years, following an initial batch of around 700 offenders released on 1 October. [1][5]

BBC News reported that at least 1,350 offenders have been released early under the scheme since 1 October. Officials project that at least 2,500 offenders will have been let out by the end of the year to spend two-thirds of their sentence on a licence in the community. [1]