Prison overcrowding: Nacro calls for focus on reducing recalls to tackle capacity crisis

New analysis of Ministry of Justice data from Nacro shows that a more proportionate approach to recalling people to prison would free up space and should be a key focus of the government’s plans to tackle the current prison capacity crisis.

The number of recalls has increased by 136% since 2016/17, despite the number of people released from prison falling by more than a fifth.

The government is also spending almost £750 million a year on recalls, we estimate – with almost £590 million of this relating to people not facing any new charges.

There are currently 9,900 in prison who were recalled for reasons other than facing further charges. While a number of this group may pose a risk to the community, Nacro argues that action to create a more proportionate system would free up capacity in the prison estate, and is as important as the ‘earned progression’ system that is expected to free up 5,000 beds over the next nine months.

Four in five recalls in 2025/26 did not relate to people facing a charge for further offending, but for reasons such as a failure to reside at a specified address or to attend probation meetings. Further charges were cited in just 21% of cases.

The analysis set out in a report  ‘A Proportionate Recall System’ also shows that nine out of every ten prison beds freed by people being released were filled by someone recalled to custody in 2025/26. There were more than 51,000 recalls to custody last year, compared to more than the 47,000 admissions following sentencing. At any one point, more than 12,500 people were in prison on recall, equivalent to one in seven of the prison population.

In addition the data analysis reveals that the recall rate for women is higher, with one recall for every four women under post-release supervision in the first three months of 2026, compared to one recall for every five men.

The scale and cost of recalls is putting further pressure on an already overcrowded prison system and raises serious questions about whether recall is being used proportionately and effectively.

It is counterproductive to be spending such large amounts of money on recalling people to custody, rather than investing in community support to help them reintegrate and reduce the risk of reoffending.

Enver Solomon, Chief Executive of Nacro, said:

“The power to recall someone to prison plays an important role in protecting the public, but the current scale of recalls is neither sustainable nor effective.

“Addressing the scale of recalls must be a central part of the government’s response to the prison capacity crisis.  Without this, prison places freed up through earlier releases will simply be filled up again by people recalled to prison.

“The government needs to break the revolving door of custody by addressing the reasons people are recalled and ensuring on release that people have the housing and support they need to rebuild their lives.”

More needs to be done to understand why people are being recalled and ensure responses are proportionate. Official statistics do not currently distinguish between different circumstances behind non-compliance, such as someone missing a probation appointment because of illness or transport problems and someone repeatedly failing to engage with probation.

Forthcoming changes, including the expansion of electronic monitoring, must be implemented proportionately so that minor breaches or technical problems do not lead unnecessarily to a person being recalled.

We’re calling on the government to ensure people leaving prison receive the support they need to succeed in the community, with recall being used as a last resort. Many recalls could be avoided by improved community support making sure people have somewhere stable to live and are given support to reintegrate into the community.

The report’s recommendations state: