The government is set to release 5,000 offenders from October as part of new laws to create more space in overcrowded prisons. Probation officers supervise offenders after prison sentences and check they follow the terms of their release, such as sticking to curfews and not taking drugs. "I mean, they're managing a caseload of 258,000 cases, that's nearly three times the number that are in our prisons, and obviously the early release scheme will be increasing that pressure considerably." Much of that is down to a separate early release scheme which was implemented in 2024 after prisons nearly reached full capacity. One probation officer told the BBC the upcoming releases had put him and his colleagues into "a state of panic".