New data has revealed the number of Hertfordshire prisoners who have been granted early release as part of the End of Custody Supervised Licence scheme.

Government figures show that a total of 206 criminals have been released from HMP The Mount in Bovingdon - the county's only jail - since October 2023, as part of the scheme introduced last year to ease prison overcrowding.

Most of those were let out early this year, with 175 released including 45 in May alone.

Jonathan Ash-Edwards, Police & Crime Commissioner for Hertfordshire, was keen to reassure residents that many of the prisoners released from HMP The Mount have now returned to other parts of the UK, claiming just 28 are now in the county.

"Many of those held and released from The Mount are not Hertfordshire residents, so most will return back to those areas they originate from across the country," he told this newspaper.

Hertfordshire PCC Jonathan Ash-Edwards (left).Hertfordshire PCC Jonathan Ash-Edwards (left). (Image: Supplied)

"From the national cohort of prisoners released early in October the Constabulary were notified that there were 28 individuals who were expected to come into Hertfordshire.

"I discussed the Constabulary’s approach to managing this with the Chief Constable at my public Accountability & Performance Meeting in August.

"The Chief Constable assured me that they were prepared for the releases including knowing who they are, what their offending had been, where they had been released to and what conditions were applied to their licence.

"This enables them to work with probation and other services to manage those individuals."

Mr Ash-Edwards was also quick to call on the Government to take more action to address prison overcrowding, and that "considerable work" is taking place in Hertfordshire to manage the early release of offenders.

"The capacity problems in the prison system have been long in the making and need concerted effort from Government to resolve, including building more capacity.

"I recently met with the Governor of The Mount and there has been considerable work between the prison service, probation and policing in Hertfordshire to manage early release of offenders."