When someone leaves prison while still serving a sentence, they are released on licence, which means they could be recalled if they break their conditions – this ranges from failing to make a probation appointment or not living at an approved address, through to more serious breaches such as contacting a victim, abandoning a rehabilitation programme or committing a crime.
The new rules, called “Earned Progression”, are meant to encourage them to work harder to reform through enhanced monitoring and intensive supervision.
This means more released prisoners will have to wear electronic tags and be subject to other conditions.
If they step out of line, they can be returned to jail immediately.
Probation officers will have to work harder to monitor offenders all around the country. Martin Jones, the independent inspector of the service, has said he is “not fully confident” that the system will be able to cope.
The staff union says officers already have too many cases and the rate at which they are leaving the profession has increased. A report, published days before the start of the October early releases, warned that almost half of offenders were not tagged promptly, despite electronic monitoring being key to success.
The government says the probation service has recruited 1,300 more staff and has also received new AI tools to help it oversee offenders.