People released from prison in England and Wales returned to custody on recall a record 48,327 times in 2025. Most recalls related to breaches of licence conditions.
The total marked a 38 per cent rise on the year before. The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) published the annual figures on 30 April.
Over the same period there were 56,923 releases. That gives a ratio of six recalls for every seven releases.
A new criminal charge lay behind only 22 per cent of recalls. The reasons the Probation Service gave most often were non-compliance and failure to keep in touch. This suggests that people are going back to prison for missing meetings with their probation officers.
Early release schemes
The MoJ accepted that early release schemes had played a part in the increase. Successive governments brought in the schemes to free up space during a prison capacity crisis.
According to the department, the schemes put more people on licence in the community. In some cases, prisoners left custody before they were ready.
The MoJ also challenged the six-in-seven comparison. Because some people may have gone back to prison more than once during the year, the ratio does not mean each released prisoner faced that chance of recall. A spokesperson said that reading of the statistics was wrong, as recall figures can count the same person more than once.
‘Set up to fail’
In a letter from HMP Leeds, prisoner Ryan Evans described how easily recall can happen.
On one occasion, he said, Blackburn Magistrates’ Court released him at 5.15pm. He then had to reach Leeds by public transport for a 7pm appointment. He did not make it, and he went back to prison.
After 28 days in custody, HMP Leeds re-released him at 10.30am. This time he had to report to an Approved Premises in Lincoln by 2pm. Again, public transport could not get him there on time, and recall followed for a second time.
He wrote: “I am only getting set up to fail every time.”
A Prison Service spokesperson said: “We do not recognise any of these claims.” According to the Prison Service, scheduling of probation appointments and Approved Premises sign-ins always allows time for travel and reflects each offender’s needs.
Enver Solomon, Chief Executive of the charity Nacro, which works with ex-offenders, said the scale of recall raised serious concerns. He said most of those recalled had not committed a new crime.
He said: “When people leave prison without a safe place to live and without proper support systems in place to address their addiction or mental health issues, keeping to licence conditions can be difficult and recall will become inevitable for some.”
Mr Solomon described sending people back to prison without the right support as a failure. Reoffending already costs £23 billion a year, he said.
He argued that rehabilitation breaks the cycle of reoffending. In turn, he said, that makes communities safer and helps people genuinely turn their lives around.
