10,000 prisoners to stream out EARLY to free space in jails

At least 300 have reoffended and been returned to jail.

The prisoners were freed 18 days before their scheduled release date under the plan aimed at easing the pressure on prisons which are reaching bursting point.

Only sex attackers, the most violent categories of criminal and those serving sentences of more than four years are excluded from the scheme brought in at the end of June.

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Officials say 25,500 inmates will be released in the first year of the policy known as the End of Custody Licence.

A total of 8,520 inmates were freed early up until the end of September. They included 1,200 convicted of violence, 152 robbers and 662 burglars.

The latest figures, to be released on Friday, will cover October and are expected to show that the total has passed 10,000.

Despite the early releases, prison numbers are still at a record. Last week, 81,454 prisoners were in jail - 285 more than capacity.

A long-awaited review of the prison system by Lord Carter is due within weeks. It is expected to recommend that some criminals given prison sentences should escape going to jail because of overcrowding.

Under emergency plans, offenders sentenced to six months or less would serve time only if a cell was available. If not, they would be given community sentences.

The Conservatives are also reviewing prisons policy. Their spokesman, Nick Herbert, will today call for Victorian prisons to be sold off for housing and replaced by smaller, modern units.

Mr Herbert said: "Having ignored every warning about rising prison numbers, the Government's preferred route is not to ensure the necessary additional jail capacity and rehabilitation programmes, but to release 25,000 prisoners early and water down sentences.

"We desperately need a new approach, one which accepts the role of prison in dealing with crime in an increasingly violent society, but also recognises that the current prison system isn't working.

"The immediate goal should be to reduce the reconviction rate which has soared under Labour, not the prison population."

A Ministry of Justice spokesman said: "Protecting the public is our first priority.

"ECL is a temporary measure to ensure we have enough spaces for those serious and violent offenders sent to prison. We are building 9,500 prison spaces in the next five years."