Early release starts today: who gets out, and from where
From 1 October most prisoners on standard sentences go free after a third. Here is who qualifies, who is excluded, and which prisons will see the most go.
Chart: Crimes Weekly · GB-CJ-04 · Source: Ministry of Justice, SDS40 release data January 2025 to March 2026 (30 July 2026), Table 8
Today, Thursday 1 October, the first prisoners are being let out under the Sentencing Act 2026. For most adults serving a standard fixed-term sentence, the automatic release point drops to one third of the sentence. Until now it was 40% or 50%.
Press reports put today's first release at several hundred. The government expects about 5,000 more people to be released early over the next year than would otherwise have been. That estimate was about 6,000 before ministers added exclusions over the summer.
We will not name anyone. This is about the categories and the numbers.
Who qualifies
- Adults on a standard determinate sentence, the ordinary fixed-term sentence handed down for most crimes. Most of them now leave after a third of the sentence instead of 40% or half.
- Serious violent or sexual offences with sentences of four years or more also move earlier, from two thirds to half.
- The rest of the sentence is served on licence in the community. Most people released early in the new tranches will wear an electronic tag and are under probation supervision. Anyone who breaks the licence can be recalled. The standard fixed recall is now 56 days.
Who is excluded
After two rounds of exclusions, announced on 4 and 30 August, these groups are not covered by the new release point:
- rape, serious child sexual offences and grooming offences
- manslaughter and other unlawful killing
- causing death by dangerous or drunk driving
- causing or allowing the death of a child
- some historic child sex offences
- life sentences, IPP sentences and extended sentences (EDS), where release is still decided by the Parole Board
- under-18s
It starts with the short sentences
Releases come in ten monthly tranches, shortest sentences first:
| From | Sentence length |
|---|---|
| 1 October 2026 | under 575 days (about 19 months) |
| 13 October 2026 | 575 to 882 days |
| 10 November 2026 | 883 to 1,162 days |
| … | longer sentences, month by month |
| 8 June 2027 | over 4,396 days (about 12 years) |
Table: Crimes Weekly · GB-CJ-05 · Source: Prison Reform Trust guide to the Sentencing Act 2026; House of Commons Library CBP-10974
So today's group is people serving under about 19 months. The previous scheme gives an idea of who they are. Under SDS40, 48% of people released early had a sentence of less than 12 months. 91% were released from men's prisons. The largest age group was 30 to 39, with 36% of releases. 92% were British nationals.
The Ministry of Justice has not published the offences of the people being released today. Sentences this short are mostly given for theft, lower-level violence, drug offences and breaching court orders.
Which prisons
The MoJ does not publish in advance which prisons will release whom. Its figures for the last scheme do show where early releases actually came from, and the new releases will come through the same system. Early releases are highest at big local and resettlement prisons. They are the prisons that take people straight from court and the prisons that prepare people for release.
In the twelve months to March 2026 there were 43,610 early releases under SDS40, about 120 a day. The top ten prisons were:
- Humber, East Yorkshire: 1,328
- Fosse Way, Leicester: 1,209
- Berwyn, Wrexham: 1,158
- Brixton, London: 1,027
- Parc, Bridgend: 1,010
- Forest Bank, Salford: 957
- Altcourse, Liverpool: 946
- Wealstun, West Yorkshire: 910
- Holme House, Stockton-on-Tees: 821
- Hewell, Redditch: 810
Among women's prisons, Eastwood Park (553), Bronzefield (536) and Styal (522) released the most. In Essex, HMP Chelmsford released 221.
People are usually released to the area they came from, which is not necessarily where the prison is. A prison in Wrexham or Hull sends people home across a wide region.
Why now
The prison population in England and Wales was 87,499 on Monday. The record of 88,521 was set in September 2024, the week before SDS40 began. Men's prisons have been running at about 97% of capacity. Justice Secretary Alex Norris has apologised to victims for the months of uncertainty over the start date. The start was put back from 2 September to 1 October.
What it means where you live
Early release does not tell you how much crime there is on your street. Our crime map does. It covers every constituency in England and Wales and shows recorded crime per 1,000 residents from police.uk data. Search your seat and see how it compares. We will look at whether the areas around the big releasing prisons change in the months ahead.
Victims can ask for release updates through the Victim Contact Scheme via their probation service. Anyone with information about a crime can call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.
Sources: Ministry of Justice, SDS40 release data, January 2025 to March 2026 (30 July 2026) · House of Commons Library, Changes to automatic prisoner release dates · Prison Reform Trust, The Sentencing Act 2026 · Institute for Government, prison early release explainer · MoJ weekly prison population figures, as reported by the Evening Standard, 29 September 2026.
