Earlier this year Parliament voted through the Sentencing Act 2026 to radically reform the rules governing the sentencing and management of prisoners. The plan had been that from 2 September, the first prisoners to benefit from the scheme were those serving up to 19 months. Offenders serving longer fixed-term sentences would become eligible for the scheme month-by-month. Burnham says the scheme should exclude rapists, serious sexual offenders against children and those guilty of grooming gang related crimes. So that means that prison governors and probation officers must put plans on ice - and start rethinking who gets out and when.