Prison Doors Swing Open Under Starmer

Britain’s Labour government quietly released more than 16,000 convicted criminals early — and the prison system is still nearly full.

Story Snapshot

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s government launched a scheme in September 2024 that cut the time most prisoners serve from 50% to 40% of their sentence.
Over 16,000 prisoners were released early in just the first four months of the program.
The scheme excludes the most serious violent offenders, sex offenders, and terrorists — but drug dealers, burglars, and many violent criminals qualified.
Despite the mass releases, British prisons remained at near-total capacity, with 88,081 of 89,042 spaces still in use by April 2025.

What Starmer’s Early Release Scheme Actually Does

The UK government launched its early release program — called SDS40 — in September 2024. Under SDS40, most prisoners serving five years or less are now freed after completing just 40% of their sentence, down from the previous 50% standard. The stated reason was simple: British prisons were dangerously overcrowded and nearly out of space. The government said the move was temporary and would be reviewed after 18 months.

The scheme does exclude certain categories of offenders. Serious violent crimes carrying four years or more, sex offenses, terrorism, and some domestic abuse crimes are all blocked from early release. But that still leaves a wide range of criminals eligible — including drug dealers, burglars, gang members, and many who committed lower-level violent offenses. Critics say the exclusions leave a large gap between what the government promises and what the public actually gets.

The Numbers Tell a Troubling Story

Between September 10 and December 31, 2024, the government freed 16,231 prisoners early under SDS40. ^[4] That is a massive number in just four months. Yet by April 2025, prisons still held 88,081 people in a system with only 89,042 spaces. ^[4] In other words, the early releases barely made a dent. Nearly three quarters of all prisons in England and Wales were overcrowded in 2024–25 — a nine-point jump from the year before. ^[19]

The reoffending risk adds another layer of concern. Studies show about 26% of released prisoners reoffend within a year, and between 55% and 59% end up recalled to prison. ^[12] The probation service — already stretched thin — now faces a surge in caseloads. Experts warn that releasing prisoners without stable housing or support creates a revolving door: people get out, reoffend or break their release conditions, and come right back in. ^[13]

A Broken System With No Real Fix in Sight

England’s prison crisis did not start with Starmer. The prison population has nearly doubled over the past 30 years, and emergency early release programs have been triggered at least six times since 2023 alone. ^[18] The previous Conservative government ran its own early release schemes before Labour took over. The root problem — too many people sentenced to prison, not enough space — has never been seriously addressed by either party.

Starmer’s government says it plans to build 14,000 new prison places by 2031. But even with that construction and a new sentencing law passed in early 2025, experts predict the prison population will still grow by another 2,000 people by 2029. ^[19] The government also has no firm estimate of how many total prisoners will be released under SDS40, saying it depends on conditions at each individual prison. ^[3] That is not a plan — it is a patch on a leaking pipe.

For British citizens, the bottom line is this: a government that campaigned on being tough on crime is now cutting sentences short for tens of thousands of convicts — and the prisons are still nearly full. The scheme may avoid the worst-case scenario of a total system collapse, but it does nothing to make communities safer. It simply moves the problem from inside prison walls to the streets outside them. Until Britain’s leaders tackle the root causes of overcrowding with real investment and honest policy, this cycle will keep repeating.