Short of Prison Space, U.K. Looks to U.S. Model of Time Off for Good Conduct

Facing prison overcrowding, Britain should adopt a policy, widely used in the United States, that allows inmates to earn early release through good behavior, says an official report to Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s government that specifically cites Texas as an example.

The independent review, released on Thursday, calls for the introduction of a new system that would let most inmates serve only one-third of their sentences in prison.

David Gauke, a former Conservative politician who served as justice secretary between 2018 and 2019, was asked by the Labour government to draw up a plan for tackling a capacity crisis in British prisons. Forecasts by the Ministry of Justice expect more than 100,000 prison places to be needed in England and Wales by March 2029, but the current operational capacity is below 85,000.

Late last year more than 16,000 prisoners were released early under an emergency move by the government to relieve overcrowding, and Mr. Gauke’s review said plans to build more prisons “still fall short” of what is needed.

He said a “political narrative” in which the previous Conservative government asserted itself as “tough on crime” resulted in a series of policies that increased the length of sentences for many crimes and the proportion of terms spent behind bars.

He wrote that there was an “urgent need for change,” with demand for prison cells already coming “dangerously close to exceeding supply” and forcing emergency short-term measures.