Prison and probation workers have expressed disapproval at recent early release schemes for prisoners, but are more positive about plans for a “Texas-style” points-based system.
In a survey carried out by charity Skills for Justice in May and June, 481 prison and probation staff gave their views on the impact of early release schemes on service demand and workload – and new measures in the pipeline.
Eight in 10 of the prison and probation workers who took part said they were dissatisfied with the schemes, raising four key concerns: the rushed timetable and lack of support for implementation; the schemes’ impact on victims and public trust; the effect on prison recalls and rehabilitation; and increased workloads.
It comes after Dame Anne Owers’ review of prison capacity, published earlier this week, described the crisis as “systemic” and said early release schemes had “provided a breathing space, but not a solution”.
To prevent overcrowding prisons in England and Wales as they neared full capacity, the government in September introduced SDS40 – a temporary automatic prisoner early release scheme to prevent overcrowding. Under SDS40, eligible prisoners serving five years or less are automatically released on licence after serving 40% of their sentence.
By the time SDS40 was introduced, another early-release scheme – End of Custody Supervised Licence – had been expanded greatly. When launched in 2023, ECSL allowed category B and C prisoners to be released up to a maximum of 18 days before their conditional release dates. The maximum number of days rose to 35 days in March 2024, and to 70 days two months later.
In a 16-page report detailing the survey findings and making recommendations to learn from what went wrong, Skills for Justice said staff across prisons and probation had less than six weeks to put in place risk assessment and supervision plans for the thousands of prisoners eligible for the SDS40 scheme, without any additional dedicated resources.
The charity said this “reportedly led to procedural errors and oversights in following pre-release guidelines, instances of individuals being released without suitable accommodation and referrals to mental health and addiction services not completed in time”.
One probation worker who did not wish to be named told the survey: “It was too rushed. People were not being tagged or monitored. The whole thing was a shambles.”
Another prison worker, who also wished to remain anonymous, said a prisoner was released without suitable accommodation because they didn’t have enough time to complete a full risk assessment and warned “without the appropriate resources to manage all the prison releases, something will go wrong”.
The survey also documented how the introduction of early release schemes led to a sudden increase in workload pressures, and to many staff experiencing acute stress and mental health problems.
Eight in 10 survey respondents said they experienced heightened work-related stress as a result of the intervention, with a further 70% reporting that the policies have had a directly negative effect on their work-life balance.
One senior probation staff member said the schemes had “caused considerable stress and anxiety to frontline practitioners”, while another warned that early release had led to “a huge workload spike that has never reduced”.
Skills for Justice managing director Jon Czul said the government “acted quickly and decisively” last year, “taking the difficult but necessary” decision to replace the previous automatic early release scheme and relieve pressure on overcrowded prisons.
But he said “the sheer volume” of prisoners that “understaffed” prisons and probation services had to process “in such a short timeframe” had “contributed to the sense that workloads in the sector are increasingly unmanageable”.
The survey showed found more optimism about plans to introduce a “Texas-style” points-based system whereby prisoners earn early release as a reward for good behaviour.
In May, an independent sentencing review by former justice secretary David Gauke recommended this approach. Justice secretary Shabana Mahmood accepted the recommendation “in principle” and said further detail will follow once legislation is placed before the House of Commons.
Around 60% of survey respondents said this system would represent an improvement on ECSL and SDS40.
Czul said: “With further changes on the horizon, it is encouraging to see that the workforce adopts more positive leanings towards a points-based system, however, it is vital that government conducts a full readiness assessment in view of current and historic workforce challenges.”
‘We can’t keep expecting probation officers to pick up the pieces’
The report also includes messages to the government from the unions for prison and probation staff, whose members took part in the survey.
Ian Lawrence, general secretary of probation service trade union Napo, said: “Decades of underinvestment in prisons meant that once the breaking point came, the burden fell disproportionately on the shoulders of probation services.
“Already overstretched, it was down to hardworking and dedicated prisons and probation staff to respond to the challenge of automatic early release, without proper operational support.
“We cannot keep expecting probation officers to pick up the pieces. Probation services are transformational to people’s lives and central to a functioning criminal justice system. We therefore need to ensure the long-term sustainability of the workforce by ensuring people are properly rewarded and supported to do their jobs.”
Tom Wheatley, president of the Prison Governors’ Association, agreed, saying the government “needs to be clear on the purpose of imprisonment and ensure that HMPPS are resourced to deliver that purpose”.
Wheatley said recruitment and retention policies must offer pay and conditions of service for all HMPPS staff “that will not only attract high quality recruits, but will also encourage them to stay to gain experience, then build on that to become the highly skilled people needed for prisons and probation to be successful”.
Mark Fairhurst, national chair at the Prison Officers’ Association, said "additional implementation and operational support is a must as we look to introduce a ‘Texas-style’ points-based system in our prisons.”
He also said a programme of continued engagement with all prison staff “is vital to the success of any future interventions”.