Men in open prisons are missing out on day release, research by HM Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) has found. Some also risk leaving prison with nowhere to live. The report blames a flawed offender management system and failures by probation.
Laura Pope, Head of Evidence-Based Practice at HMPPS, led the project, which examined how open prisons carry out offender management. HMPPS published her findings in May 2026 in a report titled ‘Bridging the Gap’. It calls for a review of HMPPS policies.
Ms Pope and her team interviewed 93 prisoners and staff at five open prisons.
Long waits for day release
Release on Temporary Licence (RoTL), or day release, has a recognised role in preparing long-term prisoners for life in the community. It can start up to three years before a prisoner’s release date.
Before a prisoner can go out on RoTL, a Community Offender Manager (COM) must complete a risk assessment. Under the current Offender Management in Custody (OMiC) rules, prisoners only receive a COM eight-and-a-half months before their release date. As a result, a ‘duty COM’ has to carry out the assessment. That person does not know the prisoner and is often overworked.
Prisoners told researchers they had been warned to expect a three to four month wait for approval. “But for many the reality was nearer eight to 12 months,” the report says.
The report also found that some COMs did not understand the system. Prison staff described COMs who knew little about the RoTL process or about their own duties under the OMiC framework.
Churn in probation
High turnover among probation staff causes further problems. Even after allocation, a prisoner’s case often passes from one COM to another. Staff and prisoners both raised this lack of continuity as a prominent issue. Men said they wanted to build relationships with their COMs early, to ease their worries about release.
The researchers linked this ‘churn’ to staff shortfalls in the community and a perceived lack of knowledge of open prisons. They said it had hampered partnership working and raised concerns about the quality of information coming in from the community.
Part of a COM’s role is to give support before release, including help to find a safe address. The report found that gaps did not always come from a lack of staff. Participants also pointed to unclear roles and responsibilities between POMs and pre-release teams. The result, it says, was an “uncoordinated, inefficient and in many instances an entirely absent pre-release support offer for men”.
Staff described a ‘postcode lottery’ for men. They also spoke of growing pressure on prison staff to stop men falling through the gaps before release.
A senior leader at one prison said the gap in the process was undoing the good work done. Staff could not reassure men about housing or somewhere to sleep the day before release, the leader added.
Staff and men shared a frustration at the cumulative effect of outside pressures on the system, the report found. Most felt the OMiC model lacked adequate resources. They also felt it did not reflect the work required in open conditions to meet risk and rehabilitation needs.
