The prison population in England and Wales has dropped by 2,188 in a week following the mass early release of offenders to deal with overcrowding.
There were some 88,521 prisoners as of 6 September – a record high with only 1.2% capacity left in the system.
But as of Friday, the number had fallen to 86,333, according to new Ministry of Justice figures.
An early release scheme came into effect earlier this week.
The new scheme saw the early release of around 1,700 prisoners on 10 September.
Offenders who had served 40% of their sentence were eligible.
Prisoners who are in jail for serious violent offences with sentences of four years or more, as well as sex offenders, were not released.
The policy also excluded those convicted of domestic abuse and connected crimes, such as stalking offences and controlling or coercive behaviours.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer told the BBC last week that he did not want to be in a position of releasing people who should be in prison, but said the situation was at “crisis point”.
“We have to release people early because otherwise we’ll have an absolute crisis in our prisons,” he said.
The prison population has been climbing steadily every week since 9 August, when it stood at 87,496.
Source Agencies
