# Early release prisoners face homelessness as winter arrives

> Hundreds of prisoners released early to ease overcrowding are at risk of sleeping rough, undermining plans to end rough sleeping by Christmas.
- Title: Early release prisoners face homelessness as winter arrives
- Summary: Hundreds of prisoners released early to ease overcrowding are at risk of sleeping rough, undermining plans to end rough sleeping by Christmas.
- Keywords: early release prisoners, homelessness, prison overcrowding, andy burnham, rough sleeping, probation, england and wales, housing crisis, napo, pact, the Guardian
- Source: the Guardian — https://theguardian.com/society/2026/nov/07/early-release-prisoners-street-homelessness-england
- Published: 2026-11-07T07:00:06+00:00
- Read time: 2 min
- Topics: early release prisoners, homelessness, prison overcrowding, andy burnham, rough sleeping, probation, england and wales, housing crisis, napo, pact, news, world
## James faces the street in four days
Released from prison in August, the thirty-seven-year-old was given temporary probation accommodation in Somerset that is about to expire. He has nowhere else to go.

> It is scary. I am not asking for special treatment. But literally nowhere wants to help.
## Hundreds released early to ease prison crowding
Prisoners are being released early in England and Wales to try to ease prison overcrowding. Charities and probation staff warn many are at risk of being released into street homelessness.
## Housing options already full after October releases
Tania Bassett from Napo, the trade union for probation staff, said most housing options were already full after early release of prisoners in October. Major concerns exist about housing the next tranche on ten November.

> There is this juxtaposition of releasing people into homelessness at the same time as Andy Burnham is saying we're going to solve rough sleeping.
## Rough sleeping up one hundred thirty percent in three years
Analysis by Pact showed prisoners released into rough sleeping rose from six thousand forty in two thousand twenty-two to twenty-three to fourteen thousand three hundred sixty in two thousand twenty-five to twenty-six.
## One in seven releases now recorded as rough sleeping
Rough sleeping is now recorded in about one in seven prison releases, compared with around one in ten three years ago.
## Electronic tags impossible without stable housing
James has two electronic tags requiring daily charging and connection to a communication device. He questions how he can comply with these requirements while sleeping rough without reliable electricity or safe equipment storage.

> How am I supposed to comply with these requirements while sleeping rough without reliable electricity or somewhere safe to put the equipment?
## Burnham's plan has a fatal flaw, charities say
Andy Keen-Downs, chief executive of Pact, said Burnham's ambitions to end rough sleeping and his eight hundred seventy-four million pound funding boost were welcome.But the lack of money for post-prison support was a fatal flaw.

> We need more money for beds, but we also need money for all the support services people need to get from the prison cell into the bed and stay in it.
## Probation staff call for ringfenced funding
Tania Bassett said if there is no money ringfenced to help prisoners, it is a missed opportunity to end the never-ending cycle.Napo will make strong representations to the chancellor for funding for this specific issue.

> If there is not any money ringfenced to help prisoners, that is a real missed opportunity to end this never-ending cycle.
## Key takeaway

Prisoners released early to ease overcrowding are facing street homelessness as temporary accommodation expires, exposing what charities call a fatal flaw in efforts to end rough sleeping in England by Christmas.