How many people are in prison and who is being released early from jail?

Another 1,100 prisoners are being freed early in England and Wales, under the government's emergency plan to tackle overcrowding in jails.

About 1,700 prisoners were released in September under the first round of the scheme, which aims to free up 5,500 prison spaces in total.

Ministers have also announced a major review of sentencing, which could lead to new forms of punishment outside of jails.

Which prisoners are being released?

Eligible prisoners serving more than five years can now be automatically released after only 40% of their fixed-term sentence, rather than the usual 50%.

Sex offenders, and those serving sentences of four years or longer for serious violent offences, are not included.

Those convicted of domestic abuse and what the government calls "connected crimes", such as stalking, and controlling or coercive behaviours are also excluded.

The scheme only applies to a certain type of sentence, under which prisoners are automatically released after a set amount of time.

More serious offenders serving life sentences, for example, can only be released after the Parole Board has assessed whether they still pose a risk.

Anyone released will be monitored by the Probation Service, and this could involve the use of electronic tagging and curfews.

The BBC learned that some former prisoners freed in September's first wave had not been fitted with trackers, despite this being a condition.

It also emerged that 37 prisoners were wrongly released because their offences had been inaccurately recorded. They had all breached restraining orders, which should have disqualified them.

How many prisoners and prisons are there in the UK?

On 21 October, the day before the second group of prisoners were released, the prison population in England and Wales was 87,465, with 1,671 spare places.

Before the early release scheme began, Ministry of Justice data from 6 September showed the prison population was at a record high of 88,521.

The "usable operational capacity" - the total number of people a prison can hold while taking into account issues such as control and security - was 89,619, leaving spare capacity of just 1,098 places.

There are 122 men’s prisons, women’s prisons and Young Offender Institutions (YOIs) in England and Wales. HM Prison Service runs 105 and the others are managed by private companies.

In 2018 - the latest year for which comparable data is available - England and Wales had 150 prisoners per 100,000 people, the highest proportion in Western Europe.

Prisons in Scotland have also had to release people early to ease overcrowding. They held 8,252 people on 18 October.

It has emerged that 57 of the 477 prisoners who were freed in June and July were back in prison before their original release date.

In Scotland, there are 17 prisons, 16 operated by the Scottish Prison Service, and one by a private company.

The Northern Ireland Prison Service runs three prisons, which held just over 1,900 offenders on 11 October.

Why are prisons so full?

The prison population in England and Wales has been growing by around 4,500 a year - faster than new cells have been built.

The Institute for Government think tank says this is partly the result of longer sentences.

In 2023, the average prison sentence at Crown Courts in England and Wales - which deal with more serious offences - was more than 25% longer than in 2012.

For some crimes, the increase was greater. Sentences for robbery were 13 months longer on average in 2023 than in 2012, a rise of 36%.

Longer sentences mean more people in prison.

There has also been an increase in the number of prisoners on remand, who are waiting for their trial to start, or to be sentenced.

In March 2024, the remand prison population stood at 16,458, a record high. In 2016, it was about 10,000.

Some of this increase has been driven by a record number of Crown Court cases waiting to be heard.

More people than before are also being returned to prison for breaching their release conditions.

In March 2024, the number was around 12,000 - another record high - and roughly double the number in 2016.

Will the government build more prisons?

In 2021, the then Conservative government said it would build an extra 20,000 prison places in England and Wales "by the mid-2020s". However, only about 6,000 have been built.

As the second batch of prisoners were released, the Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood said the Labour government will build the extra 14,000 spaces promised.

But she also said she wants to limit the prison population by changing the way sentencing works.

The former Conservative Justice Secretary David Gauke will lead a review designed to "end the prison crisis", and ensure that no government has to carry out an emergency release programme in the future.

His report, expected in Spring 2025, will look at replacing short prison sentences with new forms of community punishment, and whether the use of technology can improve rehabilitation.