Around 5,000 prisoners are now scheduled to be freed early starting this October under emergency measures designed to prevent the prison system from running out of space.

The figure was revised down from an initial estimate of 6,000 after ministers intervened to exempt rapists and serious child sex offenders, alongside exclusions for grooming gang members and those convicted of unlawful killing. Prime Minister Andy Burnham had initially resisted narrowing the criteria further before confirming over the weekend that Albert Bowers and Jessie Cole, convicted in 2020 of the manslaughter of Thames Valley police officer PC Andrew Harper, would be barred from early release.

Alongside the release scheme, Justice Secretary Alex Norris is presenting plans to MPs on Tuesday to fast-track £110 million to accelerate the construction of hundreds of new prison places. The funding has been reallocated directly from existing departmental budgets.

The cash forms part of the Government's wider target to deliver 14,000 additional prison spaces by 2031. To secure capacity more immediately, internal areas in current jails—including unused offices, laundry rooms, and storage cupboards—are being converted into functioning cells.

Defending the approach, Mr Norris said: "This Government is serious about fixing the broken prison system we inherited, which is why we’ve already delivered more than 3,200 prison places in just two years. We’re now investing to boost these efforts further – getting spades in the ground quicker to deliver thousands more places to lock up dangerous criminals and keep the public safe."

Ministers have also signed a contract to begin the first phase of construction on a 1,700-capacity prison on the border of Leyland and Chorley in Lancashire, while funding land purchases for future developments. A further £18.9 million has been allocated for victim support services, adding to £550 million previously committed over three years.

To ease long-term capacity, the Government is preparing measures to speed up foreign offender deportations and reform Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) terms. Mr Burnham has promised legislation before the end of this Parliament to release certain offenders serving indefinite IPP sentences, though officials acknowledge these changes will not form part of the initial October release wave and could take years to take effect.

Operational concerns remain significant on the ground. Jason Hogg, Chief Constable of Thames Valley Police, warned that monitoring and tagging thousands of released prisoners will place major strain on local forces without dedicated resources.

Mr Hogg said: "The police haven’t received any additional funding for this additional work, so I’m going to be having to move resources away from one area of business to another to seek out, arrest, and bring before the court individuals who don’t follow the restrictions that they will be set. For example, their tagging restrictions. We don’t quite know what the demand will be on that, but I think it’ll be reasonably high, so it’s definitely more work for us."

What we still do not know is how police forces will manage the sudden shift in resources once the October releases begin, or how quickly converted jail rooms will become operational. I will be monitoring the Justice Secretary's statement to Parliament closely and reporting on the details as they emerge.