Will prison early releases increase rough sleeping?

Andrew Parker spent years in a so-called "revolving door" of jail and homelessness as he struggled with addiction and mental health problems.

After his last release from Nottingham Prison, he bedded down on a canal towpath beneath a graffiti-covered bridge between a hotel and new apartment blocks.

"Not being able to stay dry in the rain was horrible," Andrew said. "I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy."

Andrew, 56, said he also struggled with loneliness and abuse - he had cans of urine thrown at him - and knows other rough sleepers who were beaten up.

Andrew now has a temporary room and a collection of second-hand books at the London Road hostel in Nottingham and said reading helped calm his anxiety.

The hostel is run by the Framework Housing Association and provides Andrew with round-the-clock support. It helps with everything from his medication to looking for suitable "move-on accommodation".

Framework's street outreach team told the BBC it had identified 467 people in Nottingham who spent at least a night sleeping rough from January to August in 2026.

Of those, 61 (13%) were newly-released prisoners, an increase on the 46 prison-leavers identified on the city's streets across the whole of 2025.

Roger Billings, locality manager for Framework, said there were a range of reasons why former prisoners could become homeless after their release.

"They mistrust authority figures, there are drug and alcohol issues, mental health issues... there may be housing restrictions, locality issues," he added.

A new prison early-release scheme is due to begin on 1 October, and Billings expects more former prisoners to be found sleeping rough.

He said support services were already struggling to meet demand.

He added: "Getting into housing is a massive deal to avoid a range of support issues that will escalate.

"If you don't, they fall back into the wrong crowd and there's a lot of drug using and alcoholism (that) doesn't help your mental health.

"If people are coming out of prison without a plan, it's going to increase the rate of people going onto the streets.

"It's going to increase the rate of people going back into drug use, it's going to increase anti-social behaviour and criminality."

Izzy Harris, CEO of Nottingham's Emmanuel House day centre for homeless people, believes newly-released prisoners need more coordinated and tailored support.

She said: "As a society we have to do better than people being discharged into rough sleeping."

Framework said it worked directly with prisons to identify inmates at risk of homelessness and coordinate support before their release.

"We recognise that the early release scheme may increase demand for these services, and that many people leaving prison face complex challenges," a spokesperson added.

"Release without proper planning increases the risk of rough sleeping and other harms, which is why 'through the gate' approaches are so important.

"For those who slip through the net and are released without a place to stay, our street outreach teams work hard to identify new rough sleepers and get support and housing in place quickly."

The Ministry of Justice said the prison service could offer up to 12 weeks of basic accommodation to inmates at risk of homelessness after their release.

It added that it will work with councils and charities to halve "prison leaver homelessness" by 2029.

"The prime minister has also announced a new national effort to end rough sleeping, backed by an additional £442m," a spokesperson said.

Andrew now accepts he did not take advantage of the support on offer in prison.

"I've had mental health issues for a long time and I was not able to talk to people about how I felt, so I just kept it to myself and let it bottle up," he said.

He said he ended up sleeping rough because the accommodation he was offered after his last jail sentence was unsuitable and in a different city where he did not know anyone.

"I was offered supported housing, but there weren't members of staff there, it was kind of shared housing with other people, and the residents can't really give you the help," Andrew added.

"Drugs and that are everywhere and I didn't want to be around certain people using drugs at the time."

Andrew is now on medication which, he said, has stopped him using drugs and he has not been in trouble since he received the help he needed.

"I feel better in myself, I have put on nearly two stone. I'm proud of myself," he added.

Andrew said he still feels scared talking about sensitive issues because he does not know how people will react, but hopes that speaking out will encourage others to seek help.

"I would like to do that as a way of giving back to society instead of taking away," he added.

"They say a problem shared is a problem halved, maybe even solved."

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