29 Sep 2026
Forward Trust has today released major new polling showing public support for the use of rehabilitation programmes as an alternative to prison sentences.
Our polling, which was carried out by Opinium, found that nearly half of people (47%) thought offenders with a drug or alcohol addiction linked to their crime should be sent to a rehabilitation programme rather than prison. Just 1 in 5 (20%) were against the idea.
The polling also revealed strong support for our proposal to create an ‘earned release’ scheme for prisoners. This would allow non-violent prisoners to work towards an early release from prison if they make good progress on a rehabilitation programme.
This is an idea that Forward Trust has been pushing hard for in recent months as the government has tried to deal with the problem of prison overcrowding.
The government has opted for an automatic ‘early release’ scheme, releasing prisoners who are a third to half of the way through their sentence regardless of whether they are on a rehabilitation programme. We think this is not the best way to protect the public, or improve rehabilitation of offenders, and will likely mean a continued high reoffending rate which will do nothing to bring down prisoner numbers.
Forward Trust will be presenting the poll results and our policies to members of the government this week as we join Labour members in Liverpool for the party’s annual conference.
Our CEO Mike Trace says that the government should be taking up our suggestions with enthusiasm following the encouraging poll results.
He said:
“Government should see these results as a green light to launch bold, courageous, and creative rehabilitation initiatives.
“It’s obvious that cramming together lots of people with histories of trauma, neglect, poverty, and addiction in understaffed and rundown conditions is not going to lead to good outcomes – either for offenders or the public. Change is long overdue.
“The way out is to create a system that genuinely rehabilitates, rather than simply punishes. Rehabilitation gives people a second chance. Taking rehabilitation seriously is cheaper than current strategy, will reduce crime and prison pressures in the long term, and has the support of the public.”
Our polling also revealed the public’s scepticism about the effectiveness of the criminal justice system in general.
Asked how they believe the system is performing overall, over two-thirds (69%) say it is doing badly on reducing reoffending and more than half (53%) say it is doing badly on offender rehabilitation. 61% believe it is doing a poor job of protecting the public from crime and the same number reckon the system performs badly when it comes to “delivering justice”.
At Labour conference and beyond Forward Trust will be continuing to champion the transformation of our criminal justice system into one that is rehabilitative and which recognises the potential of everyone to recover and rebuild their lives.
