Labour has been accused of making 'nonsense' claims over its prison early release scheme as a further 650 inmates were freed from jail.

Shadow Justice Secretary Nick Timothy said reoffending was 'off the charts' thanks to the Government's release programme, which allows criminals out of jail after serving as little as one third of their sentences.

The Conservative spokesman attacked the Government for failing to provide details on how many freed inmates had been fitted with electronic tags.  

Mr Timothy said: ‘The Justice Secretary told the country that proper safeguards would be put in place, with the presumption that all released prisoners would be tagged.

‘He called it the toughest tagging regime in history, but that was nonsense.

‘We know a majority of prisoners are not being tagged before release, and we know reoffending is off the charts already.

‘The Met says there have been 100 tag breaches in London each day since Labour's first early release scheme began, while two or three prisoners released early are being re-arrested every week.'

Asking an urgent question in the House of Commons, Mr Timothy demanded to know how many freed prisoners had been tagged and how many had not, as well as details on how many had breached the terms of their early release.

Justice minister Jake Richards said: ‘We will be setting out data in relation to prison releases, as we always do, and the next batch of data will be released in January of next year.

‘This is a new sentencing regime and it's right that we release the data in the appropriate way, as we have always done.’

It came as 650 more offenders were released early today under the Government's new scheme, launched on October 1.

It is expected to free up to 50,000 prisoners a year.

Prisoners cheered and punched the air as they left prison today in the second tranche of releases.

Among those released will be those serving up to two and a half years for a variety of crimes, including violent offences and domestic abuse. 

At HMP Birmingham prisoners thanked Prime Minister Andy Burnham for letting them out.

Asked what he thought of the scheme Arasad Azad, 66, from Halesowen, who was released 45 days early from a 20-month sentence over a public order offence, said: 'Very good. I’m happy to be released. Thanks to Andy.'

He added: 'Home is better than jail. I’m glad to be free.'

At HMP Durham, one man punched the air in celebration and shouted: 'Yes cuzzie.'

Asked what he thought of the early release scheme, he replied: 'F****** belta.'

When asked if he had a message for the Prime Minister, another inmate replied: 'Scrap the recalls.'

The released prisoner explained that although he was from Sunderland, he was being sent to Bristol – where he was arrested – and had to travel there immediately or risk being recalled to prison.

Those serving even longer sentences will become eligible as the scheme is extended each month, with the tenth and final expansion in early June applying to those handed sentences of 12 years or more.

Prisoners previously due to serve 40 or 50 per cent of the sentences handed down by the courts are now being freed after serving just 33 per cent.

As the scheme is rolled out in the coming months, criminals convicted of certain violent or sexual offences who were previously eligible for release after serving two-thirds of their sentence will instead be let out at the halfway stage.

Unlike Labour's previous programme – which began two years ago and which has let out more than 70,000 offenders so far – the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) will not publish figures on how many actually walk free under the new scheme.

Instead, the number of criminals benefitting from significant reductions to their sentences will be rolled into an existing set of statistics and cannot be separately identified.

It will leave the public and MPs in the dark about the full scale of Prime Minister Andy Burnham's soft justice bonanza.

Mr Timothy told the Daily Mail on Monday that it 'looks like a cover-up by Labour to hide the true scale of their latest disastrous early release scheme'.

He called on ministers to 'come clean and explain why they refuse to publish this data'.

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has announced plans to build 50,000 new jail places if her party wins the next General Election, increasing the size of the prison estate by more than 50 per cent. 

Figures show jails in England and Wales continue to operate at almost 98 per cent capacity despite the first wave of early releases this month. The prison population stood at 87,033 on Monday, leaving just 1,951 cells standing empty.   

There are no overall figures on how many released prisoners have gone on to commit new crimes so far.

However, one senior Metropolitan Police officer last week warned that an offender freed under the new scheme had committed a series of new crimes with 'astonishing' speed after his release.

Prolific offender Michael Bogle, 38, admitted 11 shoplifting offences and was re-jailed.

The registered sex offender had previously been photographed walking out of HMP Wandsworth on the first day of the release scheme. Asked if he had a message for Mr Burnham, he said: 'Keep the early release going. It's good.'

Meanwhile, Greater Manchester Police said eight men had been arrested within days of being released early for offences including robbery, domestic violence and drugs.

The Conservatives have repeatedly warned the PM's programme poses an 'acute threat' to public safety.

The releases amount to a mammoth expansion of Labour's previous early release scheme, launched in September 2024 to create space in the overcrowded prison estate.

MoJ documents showed Labour's scheme will be a 'new permanent approach' and that, after the first day of releases in each group, the early releases will 'continue on a business-as-usual basis'.

It added: 'For context, approximately 4,500 offenders are released from custody in a typical month.'

The majority of those criminals will benefit from the new early release terms, brought into law by the Sentencing Act earlier this year.

The Government has refused to disclose how many prisoners are projected to be let out early in total.

However, Labour's first attempt at an early release scheme was leading to between 3,000 and 4,000 early releases every month.

The new programme is likely to see about 50,000 offenders a year freed early, once excluded groups are taken into account.

Life-sentenced prisoners, such as murderers, and those serving extended sentences are ineligible.

Other categories of violent and sexual criminals are also excluded after public outcry led to a series of U-turns by Mr Burnham over the summer.

An MoJ spokesman said: 'We inherited a prison system on the brink of collapse.

'If we had failed to act the police would have been forced to halt arrests, putting communities at untold risk.

'Our changes are part of a long-term overhaul of sentencing, ending the crisis in our prisons and keeping dangerous offenders behind bars.

'The Sentencing Act follows an independent review and was fully scrutinised by Parliament.'