Early Release Prisoners: Preventing Homelessness and Rough Sleeping

Baroness Gill Excerpts

Thursday 16th July 2026 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Gill (Lab)]

My Lords, I thank the noble Lord, Lord Farmer, for securing this important debate. For 1,000 prison leavers every single month, their first day of freedom is the first day of a new sentence: rough sleeping on our streets. The cyclical link between homelessness and the justice system is not an abstract policy debate; it is an urgent humanitarian and public safety emergency happening right outside our doors.

We must be honest about how we got here. This crisis is the structural inheritance of 14 years of systemic neglect by previous Governments. On their watches we have seen a staggering rise in rough sleeping and a left-behind, crumbling prison estate running dangerously close to absolute capacity because of a failure to build secure social housing. Worse, they chose punishment over prevention. By keeping the archaic Vagrancy Act on the statute book, the state’s default response to a vulnerable prison leaver sleeping in a doorway was to criminalise rather than support them. It was a broken approach that practically guaranteed a fast-track route back to custody. As a result, 68% of prisoners released directly on to the streets reoffend within a single year.

Thankfully, we are seeing a fundamental shift from crisis management to genuine prevention. Having worked at the front end of social housing for almost two decades, I welcome the recognition of the present Government that stable housing is the foundation of public safety. Instead of papering over the cracks, decisive action is now being taken. This includes decriminalisation: the Government have officially repealed the draconian Vagrancy Act, treating rough sleeping as a vulnerability requiring support, not a crime. Secondly, there is a strategic blueprint, guided by the national plan to end homelessness, which introduces a landmark duty to collaborate, legally compelling prisons, probation services and local councils to co-ordinate before a prisoner is released.

However, breaking this cycle is not about demanding more taxpayer money. There are powerful, resource-neutral changes we can make tomorrow by replacing red tape with common sense. First, we must permanently ban Friday releases, which dump vulnerable people on to the pavement just as council offices close for the weekend, stranding them until Monday. Moving discharge dates to mid-week costs nothing but saves lives. Secondly, we must ensure “day-one readiness”. No prisoner should cross the threshold without a valid ID, an active bank account and a pre-processed universal credit claim ready to go. Finally, we should scale peer-led mentoring models, training serving inmates as housing advisers inside the estate to manage paperwork before release. This is not about funding; it is about rewriting a broken system.

Providing a roof to a prison leaver is the necessary cornerstone of justice and public safety. I welcome the Government’s progress, but I have a couple of questions for my noble friend the Minister to clarify some critical challenges. First, how will the Government ensure that local councils are fully resourced to transition prison leavers from temporary, 12-week emergency placements on to permanent, secure social housing so that we can permanently close the revolving door? Secondly, will the Government rapidly implement no-cost, structural reforms such as ending Friday releases and mandating day-one ID readiness to stop people slipping through the bureaucratic cracks?