More than 70,000 criminals have been freed from jail under Labour's early release scheme. But the latest figures come amid a growing row over Labour's plans for a new early release scheme which is due to launch in early September. Shadow Justice Secretary Nick Timothy said: 'We warned Labour early release would be a disaster. Separate data published by the MoJ showed a rise in reoffending rates – and said the early release scheme may have played a role in more crimes being committed. The data therefore covered about three weeks after prison early releases began under Labour's SDS40 scheme.