More than 100,000 prisoners left detention for unsettled or unknown accommodation over the last three years, Ministry of Justice figures have revealed, raising concerns over the numbers of ex-offenders who could be sleeping rough.

The figures come as the government announced plans to tackle the epidemic of homeless ex-prisoners. Almost half of the 220,411 prisoners released over the last three years left prison for accommodation that was either not tracked by authorities or were classified as “unsettled”.

Around one in six former prisoners were classified as unsettled, likely to mean sleeping rough or another form of homelessness, between April 2015 and March 2018.

A homeless person sleeps on the street in Windsor. Photograph: Neil Hall/EPA

The figures, obtained by the Liberal Democrats through a freedom of information request, revealed that HMP Norwich released 72% of its prisoners to unsettled or unknown accommodation over two years, the highest proportion of any prison.

A total of 45 prisons released the majority of their prisoners to such accommodation in that period.



Ed Davey, the Liberal Democrats’ home affairs spokesman, whose party analysed the MoJ figures, said he was concerned those prisoners who had fallen through the cracks would not be able to access vital rehabilitation services.

“To prevent reoffending, prisons should be places of rehabilitation and recovery, and that work must continue when offenders leave the prison gates,” Davey said.

“The thousands of people who have nowhere to go upon release are less likely to be able to get a job or have access to education or healthcare.

“It’s hardly surprising that some turn to stealing or even choose to go back to prison for the sake of a warm, dry bed. The criminal justice system is fundamentally failing when people are reoffending just to get a meal or a place to sleep.”

On Monday, the government announced it would invest £3m a year over two years in a pilot scheme for dedicated officers in prison to equip inmates for life outside, with a focus on getting those serving short sentences into suitable housing.

Prisons minister Rory Stewart said ensuring prisoners had a stable home was vital to avoiding re-offending. “Too many rough sleepers come straight from prison – moving from their jail cells into this outdoor life of isolation, vulnerability and addiction,” he wrote in a blog for the MoJ.

“On the streets, without a job, without mental health support, or a bed for the night – they are sucked back into a criminal life, reoffend, and soon end up back in prison. We must do much more to help rough sleepers, and ex-prisoners in particular, to find a house and re-establish a more stable life.”

Stewart said it was “vital for public safety” that ex-prisoners were reintegrated into society. “It is protecting all the potential victims of their crime – and reducing the burden of reoffending that costs the public £15 billion a year,” he said.

“Thus, preventing rough sleeping among ex-prisoners is good for them, good for the streets, and good for the public who will be better protected from the misery of crime.”

