A review of sentencing following a growing crisis in prisons in the UK has found the government might be considering shifting towards a ‘good behaviour credit’ system. Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood, who visited Texas to observe this approach, has suggested replacing automatic early release with a system where prisoners earn their freedom through a ‘carrot-and-stick’ approach. Mahmood sees potential in this approach to incentivising rehabilitation and reducing reoffending rates.

Mahmood’s visit to the Estelle Supermax Penitentiary in Texas has highlighted the potential benefits of linking rehabilitation efforts to sentence reductions. The prison’s ‘good time credit’ program allows inmates to earn credits through work or educational courses, which in turn improves their chances of parole eligibility. As reported by the BBC, this has resulted in a lower reoffending rate in Texas (20.3%) within three years of release, compared to the US national average of 68%.

The prison population in England and Wales has risen to 86,941, its highest since October 2024, despite the government’s emergency release of over 1,000 prisoners to ease the overcrowding crisis.

The Guardian reports that currently up to 70% of prisoners in England and Wales are released automatically after serving a fixed portion of their sentences. In contrast, Texas prisons allow their prisoners to reduce their time served by earning ‘good behaviour and good time’ credits, which resulted in some inmates serving as little as 25% of their sentence.

Former Justice Secretary David Gauke, who is chairing an Independent Review on Sentencing for the UK Government, also visited Texas on the trip. As reported in the Justice Gap, his initial review published in February criticised the overreliance on punishment rather than rehabilitation, reparation and public safety. The report highlighted that the focus on prisons has meant that ‘resources have been diverted’ from other activities that reduce reoffending.

Commenting on the justice secretary’s visit, Mark Day, deputy director of the Prison Reform Trust, said:

‘There are important lessons which can be learnt from other countries and we welcome the openness of the justice secretary to ideas for reform. An incentives scheme may have potential but on its own it will not solve our overuse of imprisonment. There are also important questions to address about how such as scheme could be applied and administered fairly, particularly in a system as overstretched and under resourced as our own.’

It is expected that David Gauke’s final report on sentencing will be published later this Spring.