More than 70,000 criminals have been freed from jail under Labour’s early release scheme.
Latest data showed 9,958 offenders were let out during the first three months of this year.
It brought the total since the scheme’s launch in September 2024 to 70,066.
Under the programme – known as SDS40, which was introduced by Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood in her previous role as justice secretary – criminals can be freed after serving just 40 per cent of the sentence handed down by a court.
But the latest figures come amid a growing row over Labour’s plans for a new early release scheme which is due to launch in early September.
It is set to replace SDS40 and will apply to a far wider range of criminals, including those convicted of sexual and serious violent offences.
The majority of offenders are due to be released after serving just one third of the sentence handed down by a court, if they have shown good behaviour behind bars, while serious violent and sexual offenders will be freed at the halfway point.
Prime Minister Andy Burnham last week paused the new scheme after the widow of murdered PC Andrew Harper blasted it as ‘deplorable’.
A man leaves HMP Liverpool in September 2024 on the first day of Labour’s scheme allowing criminals to be freed early. It is due to replaced by another, even more controversial scheme in a few weeks’ time
Lissie Harper – who married the officer one month before he was dragged to his death by a car – blasted Labour after it emerged that two of his killers would be eligible for early release under the new scheme.
A number of victims of child sex grooming gangs have also voiced their opposition to the scheme after being told their abusers would benefit from early release.
The existing SDS40 early release programme led to distasteful scenes in September 2024 when lags celebrated their freedom outside jails across England and Wales.
Some were collected by friends in expensive sports cars or popped bottles of bubbly, while others vowed to be lifelong Labour voters as a result of their early release.
The Ministry of Justice’s data covers from January to the end of March, when releases averaged 3,319 a month.
It means that because a further four months have elapsed the true total number of releases is likely to be more than 83,000.
Labour has repeatedly claimed the early releases are necessary to make space in overcrowded jails, and has blamed the previous Conservative government for failing to tackle the problem while they were in power.
