Ministers will legislate next month to abolish most short prison sentences, toughen up community punishments and introduce a Texas-inspired system whereby inmates can earn early release as part of an attempt to avert another prison crisis.
Government sources said the legislation, which will bring about the biggest shake-up in sentencing laws in England and Wales for three decades, would be introduced once MPs had returned to the Commons in September.
They said Shabana Mahmood, the justice secretary, was conscious of the need to implement the changes quickly before prisons had another capacity crunch next summer.
Thousands of inmates were released after Labour won power last summer in an emergency measure to deal with overcrowding.
The sentencing bill will include measures backed by the government that were recommended by the former Conservative justice secretary David Gauke in a review in the spring.
The central change will be the introduction of an incentive scheme – or “earned progression model” – for prisoners serving fixed-term sentences to earn early release with good behaviour.
Criminals, including some violent ones, will be able earn early release after serving between a third and half of their sentence, though the most dangerous criminals and those convicted of terror-related offences will be excluded.
The scheme is modelled on a system in place in Texas, which Mahmood visited earlier this year.
The bill will also end short sentences of less than 12 months, barring exceptional circumstances, with ministers arguing that these are counterproductive and a driver of more crime.
The latest data released by the Ministry of Justice last month suggested that for the prison cohort of July to September 2023, 62% of inmates released after serving sentences of less than 12 months went on to reoffend.
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The government also plans to toughen up community punishments by giving courts greater flexibility to impose fines, seize assets and introduce bans on travel, driving and attending football matches.
Mahmood wants there to be an expansion in the use of unpaid work, where councils would be able to assign jobs to offenders such as filling potholes and removing graffiti.
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Suspended sentences are to be allowed for up to three years instead of two, and will be used more for low-risk offenders with high needs such as pregnant women and people with substance abuse problems.
The bill will include measures to limit the movement of sexual and violent offenders upon release by pinning them down to specific “restriction zones”, policed using technology and enhanced tagging.
Ministers have also announced plans to deport most foreign criminals immediately after conviction instead of 30% of the way through their sentences. Critics argue this would allow them to evade punishment.
Meanwhile, Mahmood will press ahead with a voluntary chemical castration system for sex offenders in England and Wales, and is exploring the prospect of making it mandatory. The programme is being piloted in two regions.
A government spokesperson said: “This government inherited a prisons system days away from collapse. That is why we are building 14,000 more prison places – with 2,500 already delivered – but we know we can’t build our way out of this crisis. Without further action, we will run out of prison places in months, courts would halt trials and the police cancel arrests.
“That is why as part of our plan for change, we are overhauling sentencing to make sure we always have the prison places needed to keep the country safe.”
England and Wales together have the highest per capita prison population in western Europe. Gauke has said that without change, prisons could run out of space again by spring.
