27/08/2026
Clive Hammond
New data has shown that in 2025, 77 people died within 14 days of being released from prison in England and Wales, which was a 28 percent increase on the previous 12 months.
The number, according to a Guardian investigation in May, is the highest figure since records began in 2021, with many in the sector describing how releasing inmates back into society without accommodation was a main driver behind the deaths.
Analysis also noted that reports from the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman suggested one in four people who died within a fortnight of leaving prison had been released homeless.
Elsewhere, it was found in Ministry of Justice figures that nearly 13,000 people left prison homeless in the year to April 2025 – a rise of 39 percent on the previous year.
For Gemma Waller, an Education, Training, and Employment (ETE) prison worker, the current system is “to an extent setting people up to fail” because the biggest hurdle for anyone leaving prison is ensuring they have accommodation.
So often they may have a space to go to, but it’s about making sure it is secure and not inappropriate for the person who has been released.
Another aspect to the challenge of prisoners being released includes a reluctance from them and fear of what life on the outside may resemble – and who they may be sharing accommodation with.
“Even though they’ve been told they have to move, they’ll say: right, I’ll be back tonight because I will go out and offend again to get back for the rest of my sentence,” Ms Waller told Police Oracle.
“[They might say] I’m not going to the place that you’re going to put me in… Nothing is set up for some when we look at some of the humans who have gone through the criminal justice system.
“That is a complete trust break. It is terrifying.”
And for the likes of Ms Waller, who want to protect those reentering civilian life, there is an overwhelming frustration that more can’t be done.
“My hands are tied,” she continued, adding: “The prison system is not the only system that’s stretched. Probation services are stretched, housing services are stretched, everywhere is stretched, and ultimately, the battle between somebody who’s on the housing list that has never offended and somebody who has offended, the offender is probably going to come second.”
More recent data, reported by The Times and The Sunday Times, noted that between 2019 and March 2025, 2,447 people died within a year of leaving prison, with 40 percent of these being drug-related.
It led Enver Solomon, the chief executive of social justice charity Narco, calling the deaths a “hidden tragedy”.
Some leaving prison are able to call upon a “really strong family structure around them”, where they know they’re “going back to a safe space”.
But even so, those offenders need to have a structure where they’re helped to reintegrate into a community that will be aware of the crimes they have committed.
She added: “There are practitioners who are working very hard in an unwielding structure, and we understand that change can take a while, but recently it can certainly feel for practitioners that: wow, what am I doing? Because who am I helping?”
The rise of prison populations has become once again a headline-grabbing issue this week, with the Government apologising to the widow of PC Andrew Harper, who died in the line of duty in 2019, after she criticised lawmakers for not excluding her husband’s killers from early release.
Andy Burnham, the Prime Minister, paused plans to release prisoners early in September to ease overcrowding in jails, with the scheme delayed until October.
Prison release is something that David Breakspear is an expert in.
Mr Breakspear spent many years in and out of the criminal justice system, and has since used his lived experience to help influence policy and support change, particularly within neurodiversity, suicide prevention, and prison reform.
He was in detention by the age of 15, before more and more spells of imprisonment were handed to him.
After a period not reoffending, Mr Breakspear spent years in and out of prison between 2004 and 2017.
“I got used to it,” he told Police Oracle. “After the first week, it just became natural…when I last got out I was in and out and I was being put in approved premises each time and I hated it.
“It was full of sex offenders and I would basically get myself recalled back to prison on purpose so that when I came out there was nothing on me.”
Among the biggest hurdles for those leaving prison is addiction. As Mr Breakspear puts it: back in the old days in prison, inmates were locked up for two days to deal with withdrawal, and paracetamol was given to help those going cold turkey.
But now, anyone going in with an addiction, it has to be maintained through different drugs to balance the side effects.
“It’s expensive for the public – the taxpayer – and so it doesn’t help anybody. It’s just literally supporting someone through prison until they get out and they’re back on the drugs again.
“it doesn’t help people come away from drugs, so, and of course, in prison you’re using weaker concoctions, whatever that mix is… people aren’t being educated about the drugs that they’re taking, and when people come out of prison, they tick the boxes, and it’s like, here’s the leaflet, see you later, they pretend that they care.”