How the prison probation system works as thousands of inmates released early

Thousands of prisoners are being released on Tuesday in a move campaigners warn will stretch probation services to breaking point.

About 1,700 inmates are being freed from prisons in England and Wales on the first day of the government scheme, designed to halt overcrowding, which will see a total of 5,500 released in September and October.

The government’s plan has been criticised as a short-term solution by unions and prison reform charities, who say it will pose a threat to women and children and further stretch probation services.

Last week, The Guardian reported that probation officers were given as little as one week’s notice to prepare for serious offenders being freed under the early release scheme.

What is probation in the UK and how does it work?

Put simply, probation means a convicted offender is serving their sentence but they are not in prison.

Offenders may be put on probation because they are serving a community sentence or have been released from prison on licence or parole.

While on probation, offenders may have to perform unpaid work, complete an education or training course or have regular meetings with an offender manager, who will outline the rules of probation, which, if broken, could mean a return to court and eventually being taken back to prison.

In England and Wales, this is carried out by the Probation Service, which has about 28,000 staff responsible for looking after about 240,000 people who are currently on probation.

Staff assess a person, help them resettle into the community, manage the risk of harm to others and try to empower them to change their behaviour.

Staff shortages

Martin Jones, the chief inspector of probation, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on Tuesday the early release scheme will put the Probation Service under a “huge amount of pressure” as it is already “significantly overstretched” because of a lack of probation officers.

He said poor pay and low morale were key issues in keeping staff.

The government says that at least 1,000 new trainee probation officers will be recruited by the end of March 2025.

In recent months, a number of regional assessments by the Inspectorate of Probation has found severe staff shortages in probation services.

Heavy workload

In July, Jones said the government should consider reducing the workload for probation officers by up to 40,000 offenders to help with prison overcrowding.

He suggested the government should stop asking probation officers to monitor prisoners released after short sentences for offences such as shoplifting.

He also said youth justice services could take over the monitoring of 18 to 21-year-olds who had been released to help the Probation Service.

Jones warned that about two-thirds of cases inspected by probation staff fall short of standards aimed at keeping the public safe.

An investigation by Channel 4 found that the Probation Service has been working over capacity every month since January 2023, with the average worker doing about six days’ work in a five-day week.

Probation failures

Quoting Ministry of Justice data, The Telegraph reported in June that one murder is committed every week by offenders who are on probation – 750 since 2010.

In June 2022, law graduate Zara Aleena, 35, was sexually assaulted and murdered by Jordan McSweeney, 29, in Ilford, east London, nine days after he was released on licence from prison.

He was wrongly assessed as “medium risk” by probation staff who were under “mounting pressure”, a report by the chief inspector of probation found. Her family said the Probation Service had “blood on its hands”.

Michaela Hall, 49, from Mount Hawke, Cornwall, was murdered by Lee Kendall in May 2021, after he was wrongly assessed as medium risk by probation officers. A coroner said “shortcomings and errors” by probation staff happened before she was killed.

An inquest found that “very stark” failures by probation services led to Damien Bendall, 33, murdering his pregnant partner Terri Harris, 35, her two children, John Paul Bennett, 13, and Lacey Bennett, 11, and Lacey’s friend Connie Gent, 11, in Killamarsh, Derbyshire, in September 2011. Bendall was wrongly categorised as being low risk.

What solutions are there to the probation crisis?

The Howard League for Penal Reform charity said probation “requires a complete reset” and wants probation to be taken out of the hands of the civil service and delivered locally, independent from the prison service.

It criticised the Probation Service’s seconding of a large number of probation officers to prisons.

Watch: Prisoner let out under early release system describes chaos amid chronic overcrowding

According to an Inspectorate of Probation report published in November 2022, almost 800 probation officers had been transferred to roles in prisons, but with “very little added value from these posts” and “little direct contact with prisoners”.

The Howard League said these probation officers should be redeployed within the community.

Trade union Napo – formerly the National Association of Probation Officers – said what is needed is a “comprehensive investment package” to restore standards in the Probation Service. It called on the government to reopen pay negotiations for probation officers.

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