Prisoners released early today will be back in jail “within days” after breaching their probation, a watchdog has warned.

Martin Jones, chief inspector of probation, said that offenders freed under the Government scheme were “almost bound” to be sent back to jail “within days or weeks” because “things will go wrong in the community” and they would breach the terms of their licence.

Up to 1,750 prisoners are being released today 40 per cent of the way through their sentences rather than halfway to tackle jail overcrowding that saw the number of spare places in male prisons fall to just 300 on Monday.

Mr Jones said there was also “certainty” that some of the freed criminals would “reoffend.” “So the numbers are that around about a third of people released from prison each year will be proven to have committed a further offence within a year,” he told BBC Radio 4 Today.

 “And then, of course, there’s a small risk that some of those offences will be serious, and whilst rare, that risk cannot be eliminated.”

The chief inspector said the main risk was that freed prisoners would end up homeless and, as a result, fall back into crime despite a pledge by the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) to ensure all 1,750 will have guaranteed accommodation for 12 weeks.

“What you’re seeing this week is nearly 2,000 people being released. That’s nearly twice the number that ordinarily is released in any given week. That’s placing significant pressure on the probation service and the people that provide the accommodation underpinning that,” said Mr Jones.

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