This month, the UK government introduced an early release scheme for some prisoners in England and Wales to address prison overcrowding. We are aware that this may be concerning for victims of domestic abuse.
To understand more, please read on. We’ve included some frequently asked questions that have been answered by the Ministry of Justice.
What is the change?
Q: What has been announced and why?
- The male prison estate is close to 99% capacity. To make sure suspects can continue to be arrested, held in custody, and sent to prison if they are convicted, we need to free up capacity. The disgraceful thuggery and criminality seen in the recent riots shows the importance of creating a robust criminal justice system.
- This is why the Government has announced a change to the automatic release point of certain Standard Determinate Sentences.1
- When imposing a custodial sentence, the courts have several options depending on the offence, its seriousness, and whether the offender is judged to be ‘dangerous’. The most serious and dangerous offenders can receive a Life sentence, an Extended Determinate Sentence (EDS), or a Sentence for Offenders of Particular Concern (SOPC) – all of which involve release at the discretion of the Parole Board following a detailed risk assessment. The most common type of custodial sentence is a Standard Determinate Sentence (SDS) which involves automatic release at a given point. The automatic release point was triggered when 50% of the sentence had been served in prison and will now be triggered at 40% of the sentence.
- The rest of the sentence will be served on licence in the community, which means that offenders must abide by certain conditions which, if breached, could result in being recalled to prison.
- To free up enough capacity, this change will be applied to offenders who have already been sentenced and are currently in prison.
Q: I don’t know if the offender in my case is eligible for early release. How do they decide who this applies to?2
The full list of excluded offences is at Annex A at the bottom of this article.
The decision is made based on what the offence type was, and what the sentence type is, which means certain offences are not eligible for early release.
- This change in release point does not apply to: a Standard Determinate Sentence with a 50% release point for sex offences or offences relating to national security irrespective of length;
- a Standard Determinate Sentence with a 50% release point for a violent offence of four years or more;
- a Standard Determinate Sentence with a 50% release point for offences that are frequently used to tackle domestic abuse, irrespective of length, which are:
- Stalking offences
- Controlling or coercive behaviour in an intimate or family relationship
- Non-fatal strangulation and suffocation
- Breach of Restraining Order
- Breach of Non-Molestation Order
- Breach of a Domestic Abuse Protection Order
These changes also do not apply to any Standard Determinate Sentences with a release point of 67% and any sentence that only allows for release at the discretion of the Parole Board. This includes serious sexual, violent and terrorist offences.
Q: What if the offender is in prison for multiple offences? Could they still be released early?
- If an offender is serving multiple sentences and the change in release point applies to some but not all of their offences, they could still be released early, but they will not see the release point change for any offence that is excluded. This is because each sentence is considered separately when determining whether they are eligible for release at the 40% point.
One example of how this could work is, if an offender is serving 5 years for a sex offence (ineligible for 40% release) and a 3-year sentence to be served after that for a theft offence (eligible for 40% release), the earlier release point would apply to the sentence for the theft offence but not to the sentence for the sex offence.
This means that they would need to serve 50% of their custodial sentence for the sex offence. They would then be released earlier in relation to their second sentence as they would need to serve 40% of their custodial sentence for the theft offence. This could mean the offender is released earlier than would be expected.
Q: Does this mean the offender will not serve their full sentence?
The full sentence will still be served: the change is to how much time is served within prison, compared to within the community under licence conditions.
This change will mean an additional 10% of the sentence is served in the community rather than in prison. Offenders can still be recalled to prison at any point during the full sentence period if they breach their licence conditions.
When will this change come into effect?
Q: When will prisoners start being released?
Offenders already in prison will start being released from September 2024. Releases will be split into two cohorts to manage the flow of released offenders. These cohorts have been split by sentence length. If an eligible offender received sentence(s) of less than 5 years and has served at least 40% of their sentence, they will be eligible for release on 10 September 2024.
If an eligible offender received sentence(s) of 5 years or more and has served at least 40% of their sentence, they will be eligible for release on 22 October 2024.
Preparing for an offender’s release
Q: I am worried about safety. What protections and support will be in place?
In all cases, offenders will be released on licence into the community. This means they are under a set of conditions that must be met, for example the requirement to stay in contact with their probation practitioner.3
In all cases this requires offenders to not commit a further offence; keep in touch with and receive visits from their Probation Practitioner as instructed; only reside or undertake improvement as approved by their Probation Practitioner; not travel outside of the United Kingdom, Isle of Man or the Channel Islands without permission from their Probation Practitioner; inform their Probation Practitioner if they use an alternative name, or of any changes to their contact details; and be of good behaviour. If the conditions are not met, the offender can be recalled to prison.
Every case will also be considered by the assigned probation practitioner to decide what is needed to support the offender’s safe release into the community. This will determine whether there are additional conditions that are required to manage specific risks. For example, this could include prohibiting contact with a specific individual, electronic monitoring, home detention curfew, setting an exclusion zone or requiring treatment for alcohol misuse.
Probation practitioners will also consider whether additional multi-agency engagement is required. Some offenders being released will be automatically subject to Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements (MAPPA)4
This includes offenders convicted of murder or specified violent and other sexual offences. Details of automatic and other referrals can be found here:
Identification and Notification of MAPPA Offenders (updated 2022) – Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements – MAPPA (justice.gov.uk) .
Other cases can be referred to MAPPA where their offending shows they require it. This means that probation will work with police and other agencies such as health or housing to assess and manage their risk.
Multi-Agency Risk Assessment Conferences (MARAC) are run locally and can be put in place for the management of the highest risk domestic cases. This is a meeting where information is shared between police, probation, other agencies and Independent Domestic Violence Advisors. This will result in a co-ordinated action plan that focuses on the victim’s safety.
If you have been affected by this announcement and what it might mean for you, please be aware that free, confidential, and independent support is available to help you. You can find out how to access support here
If you are a victim of domestic abuse, there are national helplines that you can also contact for more immediate help and support. They also operate live chat and text services. 24-hour National Domestic Abuse Helpline: 0808 2000 247.
24-hour National Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence helpline in Wales: 0808 8010 800.
Men’s advice line for domestic abuse: 0808 8010 327.
Q: Will I be told about changes to release dates and any licence conditions?
If you are part of the Victim Contact Scheme or Victim Notification Scheme, you will be informed about a change to an offender’s release date. Victim Liaison Officers have begun to contact affected victims ahead of the first cohort of offenders being released from prison on 10 September. Affected victims where offenders are due to be released in the second cohort on 22 October will be contacted as soon as possible.
If you are in the Victim Contact Scheme or the Victim Notification Scheme, you will be able to discuss licence conditions that you would like to be in place (such as an exclusion zone so that the offender cannot go near where you live or work), which will then be considered by probation practitioners. Your Victim Liaison Officer will inform you of the conditions that are agreed.
Q: How does the Victim Contact Scheme and Victim Notification Scheme work?
When an offender receives a custodial sentence, if you meet the eligibility criteria for the Victim Contact Scheme or the Victim Notification Scheme, your contact details will be forwarded by the police to the Probation Service’s Victim Liaison Unit.
- Victim Liaison Officers will then contact you to ask you if you wish to receive the service which would provide information at key points during the offender’s sentence. This includes:
- updating you about any changes to the sentence,
- updating you about the release of an offender and
- supporting you to request licence conditions on the release of the offender.
Q: What if I decided to opt-out of the Victim Contact Scheme or Victim Notification Scheme?
If you were contacted by a Victim Liaison Officer but decided to opt-out of either the Victim Contact Scheme or Victim Notification Scheme, you can change your mind and opt-in. To do so, you can email.
Q: What is the eligibility for the Victim Contact Scheme and Victim Notification Scheme?
You are eligible for the Victim Contact Scheme if you are a victim of a sexual, violent or terrorism offence where an offender receives a specified custodial sentence of 12 months or more or is detained in a hospital for treatment under the Mental Health Act 1983 with or without restrictions.
You are eligible for the Victim Notification Scheme if you are a victim of a stalking or harassment offence regardless of the length of the custodial sentence. This includes breach of a restraining order.
Q: What if I am not eligible for these Schemes? Will I still be told?
If you are not eligible for either of these Schemes, you would not have been proactively contacted about an offender’s release prior to this policy being announced. You will not be contacted if the offender’s release is brought forward by this change.
However, even if you are not signed up to the Victim Contact Scheme or the Victim Notification Scheme, the Offender Manager should consider your protection as part of the preparation for release, and can, for example, consider including licence conditions as necessary, to protect you, such as a no contact condition.
Annex A: Full list of excluded offences:
Sexual offences
- An offence under the Sexual Offences Act 1956.
- An offence under the Sexual Offences Act 2003.
- An offence in Part 2 of Schedule 15 of the Criminal Justice Act 2003.
Domestic abuse etc.
- An offence under section 42A of the Family Law Act 1996 (breaching non-molestation order)
- An offence under section 2A of the Protection from Harassment Act 1997 (stalking).
- An offence under section 4A of that Act (stalking involving fear of violence or serious alarm or distress).
- An offence under section 29 of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 (racially or religiously aggravated assaults),
where the offence that was racially or religiously aggravated was an offence under section 75A of the Serious Crime Act 2015 An offence under section 32 of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 (racially or religiously aggravated harassment), where the offence that was racially or religiously aggravated was an offence under section 2A or 4A of the Protection from Harassment Act 1997. - An offence under section 75A of the Serious Crime Act 2015 (strangulation or suffocation).
- An offence under section 76 of that Act (controlling or coercive behaviour in an intimate or family relationship).
- An offence under section 363 of the Sentencing Code (breaching restraining order).
- An offence under section 39 of the Domestic Abuse Act 2021 (breach of domestic abuse protection order).
Violence – Excluded if the sentence length is 4 years or more
- An offence in Part 1 of Schedule 15 of the Criminal Justice Act 2003.
National security
- An offence under the Official Secrets Act 1911.
- An offence under the Official Secrets Act 1920.
- An offence under the Official Secrets Act 1989.
- Additional national security offences agreed in conjunction with the Home Office.