The number of prison recalls increased by 12% compared to the same quarter in 2025. Data by the Ministry of Justice show that 12,338 prisoners were recalled between April to June 2026, which is higher than the 12,278 number of prisoners released in the same period.

The growing number of recalls is impacted by longer sentences and a higher number of prisoners out on licence following expanding early release in 2025 to those serving four years or less. The cells occupied by those that are recalled has contributed to a capacity crisis, with ministers requesting prison governors to identify communal spaces that can be turned into cells, such as office space

Recall admissions of those serving a sentence of 12 months or more have risen by 51% compared to the same period in 2025, while the recall for those on shorter sentences fell by 26%.

Of these recalls, among other issues, 75% were linked to a breach of probation terms, 35% involved failure to keep in touch, and 20% involved further offending.

There was some indication that the number of recalls is overall on the way down with a reduction since a peak of 13,193 recalls between January and March this year.

Rob Preece, head of communications at the Howard League on Penal Reform, described the release terms as ‘onerous’ and went further by saying that instead of receiving support prisoners are ‘going back to a world where drugs, violence, self-harm and 22 hours a day spent lying on a bunk have become the norm, with faint hope that things will somehow turn out differently next time.’

Andy Keen-Downs, Chief Executive Officer of the Prison Advice and Care Trust, quoted in Inside Time, said that ‘addressing this issue of unnecessary recalls would be a good place to start for incoming ministers looking to reduce pressure on prisons’. He called on the government to invest in ‘practical support that prison leavers need to lead stable, crime-free lives after release’.

In response, the Ministry of Justice, quoted in the Guardian, said that it is ‘vital those who break the rules can be hauled back to prison’.