Housing in Prison via Recall

So am I reading this correctly?

"Through the National Plan to End Homelessness, the Government has given a commitment to halving the proportion of prison leavers released homeless...

we simply cannot commit to end homelessness for prison leavers...the problem is simply too hard to deal with...so under our commitment to end homelessness by the end of this parliament we need to be very clear: we will not be ending homelessness for people on probation, just halving the current problem...probation officers have the skills and abilities to manage vulnerable and difficult people who are likely to reoffend due to destitution...these people can just be recalled and housed in prison instead, even though we've also committed to reducing prison numbers by releasing them homeless only for them to fill up the prison spaces again within a matter of weeks"

I mocked the government's "commitment to end homelessness" because when it comes to people released from prison that commitment apparently doesn't involve "ending homelesness" at all, but halving the current numbers of people released homeless. I said in that post this leaves Probation to manage extremely vulnerable people in destitute situations where "housing in prison via recall" ultimately becomes sadly the better option.

Ok lets be clear here. This from AI:-

The text is a satirical or critical paraphrase of UK government policy rather than a direct, verbatim quote from a specific named official.

Context of the Claims

Official Policy Stance: Under the National Plan to End Homelessness, the UK Labour government (led by the Prime Minister and ministers in the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government and Ministry of Justice) has committed to halving the proportion of prison leavers released into homelessness (to 'no fixed abode') by the end of the Parliament (around 2029). 

The Controversy: Critics, social justice charities (such as Nacro), and opposition MPs have pointed out that thousands of prisoners are still being released without accommodation, leading to recent media reports and parliamentary clashes over issues like early release schemes, housing shortages, and even reports of probation services or local offices resorting to extreme stopgaps like issuing tents. 

The Quote's Origin: The passage you provided exaggerates or caricatures the government's official target—which is explicitly framed as halving prison leaver homelessness rather than eradicating it entirely—and turns it into a cynical internal monologue representing what critics claim the policy amounts to in practice (i.e., failing to house people, relying on recall to prison, and cycling individuals back through the justice system).

Lord Farmer (Con) nailed it in July this year:-

To ask His Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the effectiveness of partnership working between prisons and local housing authorities in preventing homelessness and rough sleeping among prisoners released early.

My Lords, I thank all noble Lords who are here today to debate an issue that could get lost amidst the penal populism informing much of the response to the next waves of early release following the Sentencing Act 2026.

Why do I refer to penal populism? Crime must be punished, and I completely understand the concerns of many victims about early release. However, the public vengefulness politicians court to achieve popularity, notably by demanding ever-longer custodial sentences, has led to ever-longer sentences, clogged up our prisons and contributed to the need for these great swathes of early release. The inflation in custodial sentence length between 2010 and 2025 was 45%.

In their book, The Honest Politician’s Guide to Prisons and Probation, criminologists King and Willmott reveal just how many ex-Justice Secretaries, from both main parties, regret “playing to the gallery” as

“tough law and order figures”,

as my noble friend Lord Clarke of Nottingham, who was Home Secretary following the 1992 general election, described his successors. This response was driven by the understandable outcry following the Jamie Bulger killing in early 1993 by two other children. Instead of acknowledging the need to challenge inadequate parenting and manage expectations about what a criminal justice system can do, the Home Secretary who followed my noble friend Lord Clarke kickstarted the still ongoing competition between the two main parties as to who could be toughest on crime.

My response to the arms race that penal populism generates and has filled our prisons with is that, like the nuclear arms race, we simply cannot afford the price tag, either in sheer cash terms of £60,000 to £65,000 per prisoner per annum, or the squandering of human potential. Those sentenced for sexual offences—over one-fifth of prisoners—are treated as unreservedly heinous despite considerable variability in seriousness and the hypersexualisation of society. We want to lock them up and throw away the key, but the vast majority will leave prison. They and we need their genuine rehabilitation. Many have lost their families, livelihoods and homes. Only about one-third move into settled accommodation post release, compared to the average of around 45%.

More generally, imprisonment itself renders offenders homeless when tenancies lapse, mortgages are not paid or family circumstances mean they cannot return home. Despite a continuing duty of care, far too many are released homeless. Also, rehabilitation without a proper roof is almost impossible, and the statistics bear this out: their proven reoffending rate of 76% is more than double the 36.4% of those who reoffend after being released into settled accommodation. Can the Minister confirm whether the Government have assessed how many of those released early are likely to return to prison, whether through recalls for breaching licence conditions or reoffending?

This is a far grislier question, but have they assessed how many are likely to die? Leaving prison homeless is a major risk factor for death shortly after release. Last month, a Guardian investigation reported record numbers of deaths within two weeks of release in 2025—a 28% rise since 2021. Similarly, the charity Nacro found that more than one person dies every day in the year after leaving prison, and last year one in every 144 people released died within that period, more than three times the rate in 2015. In 40% of cases, drugs are a factor and homelessness interacts fatally with that: there is no structure, support or healthcare.

Inside Time, the prisoners’ newspaper—which I know the Minister reads, as do I—says that:

“An estimated 6,000 prisoners will be released earlier than planned from English and Welsh jails in 10 monthly tranches, starting on 2 September”. 

So it is very concerning that HM Inspectorate of Prisons told the Commons Public Accounts Committee in November 2024 that, at some prisons, the limited housing stock available for those released had been

“overwhelmed by early release schemes”.

Although the Government have responded to Written Questions by saying that local authorities collaborate effectively with the Prison Service to reduce homelessness, Ministry of Justice data shows that almost 13,000 people left prison homeless or as rough sleepers in the year to April 2025—a 39% rise from the previous year. Similarly, the Government’s A National Plan to End Homelessness states that this

“could have been prevented had better coordination and planning been in place”.

The duty to refer in the Homelessness Reduction Act 2017 was designed to facilitate this, and almost half of all “duty to refer” referrals are from criminal justice system organisations. Almost 10 years on from that Act, I welcome the implicit recognition in the proposed new duty to collaborate that it is not working as it should for ex-prisoners. Will the Minister explain how the new duty to collaborate will achieve the level of change required and whether it will be introduced in time to meet September’s heightened need for housing? What incentives, or even sanctions where necessary, will be put in place to ensure better joint working, not least in the interests of rehabilitation?

Prison capacity has been such an emergency issue, but the time has surely come for this to come into much sharper focus as a slower-burn way of reducing our prison population and the criminal justice budget. Reoffending costs us all £18 billion a year. Releasing prisoners into homelessness, especially rough sleeping, single-handedly undermines any previous and future rehabilitation activity. Without accommodation, they cannot seek work and restructure their lives.

Collaboration with local housing authorities is essential for rehabilitation. Some are far more effective than others at finding accommodation for ex-prisoners, even in areas of very pressured housing markets. The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman reports that many London boroughs compare badly with statistical neighbours where housing is concerned. In 2025, the London Assembly housing committee flagged inconsistent practice across London boroughs with weak co-ordination between prisons, probation and borough housing teams; prisons not consistently complying with the duty to refer; and late referrals from prisons contributing greatly to uncertainty.

I return to the plan to end homelessness. This Government have committed, by the end of this Parliament, to a 50% reduction in homelessness among people on their first night out of prison and an increase in the number of prison leavers in settled accommodation three months post release and thereafter. To conclude, I ask the Minister to outline how prisons and probation will deliver their responsibilities under the plan to embed local partnerships, collocation and pre-release planning.

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It will be recalled that not long after this debate the cobbler resigned shortly before the new Prime Minister declared in Downing Street that his mission was to "end rough sleeping". As the Guardian reports, the sum committed is now some £900million, but prison releases are proving that for many it's actually "housing in prison via recall".