Prisoners Thank Prime Minister Andy Burnham as First Wave of Early Releases Begins

Around 700 offenders freed from jails across England and Wales under government plan to ease prison overcrowding

Prisoners leaving jails across England and Wales on Thursday publicly thanked Prime Minister Andy Burnham as the government began the first wave of early releases under its plan to relieve pressure on the country’s overcrowded prisons. Around 700 offenders were expected to be freed from dozens of prisons on the first day.

Released prisoners were seen celebrating outside several jails, including HMP Birmingham, HMP Forest Bank in Salford, HMP Leeds, HMP Wandsworth and HMP Wormwood Scrubs in London, HMP Durham and HMP Bristol. One man leaving HMP Durham, carrying his belongings in a bin bag, told reporters: “Justice system, what justice system? Thank you Andy Burnham.” A man leaving HMP Cardiff, asked whether he had a message for the Prime Minister, thanked him and said he did not want to return. Another, leaving HMP Forest Bank, said he was delighted to be out even though he had only around a week of his sentence left to serve.

The scenes drew comparisons with the early release scheme introduced under Keir Starmer in 2024, when freed offenders were photographed holding bottles of champagne and praising the then Prime Minister.

Thursday’s release is the first of ten planned waves, with the final one scheduled for June 2027. In total, around 5,000 prisoners are due to be released in stages over the coming year, and those freed will be monitored with electronic tags. The figure was reduced from 6,000 after ministers intervened to exclude rapists and the most serious child sex offenders from the scheme. Burnham also personally intervened over the summer, following a public outcry, to prevent two of the killers of PC Andrew Harper from being released, a decision that removed anyone convicted of unlawful killing, including manslaughter, from eligibility.

Defending the policy, Justice Secretary Alex Norris said the government understood the anxiety victims feel as offenders’ release dates approach, but argued that the greatest danger to victims would be prisons running out of cells for dangerous criminals, a crisis he said the government had inherited.

However, Victims’ Commissioner Claire Waxman cautioned that the government’s confidence in the plan was not yet matched by the reality on the ground. Former safeguarding minister Jess Phillips said she expected large numbers of domestic abusers released under the scheme to be recalled to prison.