Thirty criminals who were freed from jail to ease overcrowding broke the terms of their release, including committing further crimes within seven days, the Justice Ministry admitted yesterday.

Twelve offenders who were freed 18 days early have been returned to jail, and police are searching for the remaining 18, who are on the run.

Six of the 30 offenders have committed crimes since being freed and 11 had failed to report to their probation officer since being let out of prison.

A further six failed to live at the address that was given on the early release licence and seven others were reported for bad behaviour, according to figures issued by the department.

David Hanson, the Prisons Minister, said in a written ministerial statement that more than 1,700 prisoners had been released in the first full week of the early-release scheme, which began on June 29.

Among those freed were 24 robbers and 149 burglars.

The largest number of those released involved prisoners serving sentences for theft and handling (404), followed violence against the person (344) and motoring crimes (219). The figures also included 65 people sentenced for drug offences and 37 for fraud and forgery.

A total of 1,227 had been sentenced to six months’ imprisonment or less, and 289 had been jailed for between one and four years.

Yesterday’s statement disclosed that one prisoner was freed a week earlier than the eligible early release date and that two offenders were returned to prison after being freed without proper authorisation by prison officials.

The early release scheme was introduced by Lord Falconer of Thoroton, QC, the former Justice Secretary, as increasing numbers of prisoners had to be put in police and court cells. It is intended to reduce the jail population by about 1,500 to 1,800 at any one time, but over 12 months about 25,000 criminals will be released early.

David Heath, the Liberal Democrat justice spokesman, said: “Prisons should never have been allowed to get so overcrowded that these early releases became necessary.The Government made a rod for its own back despite years of warnings.

“The shambolic way in which the scheme has been carried out is just the latest sorry episode in the saga of prison mismanagement.”

Nick Herbert, the Shadow Justice Secretary, said: “The situation is unacceptable. The public is being placed at risk and the blame lies squarely with ministers who 10 years ago ignored future projections of the prison population and failed to build adequate capacity.”

The prison population reached a record 81,040 this month before it dipped by 1,500 following the early releases.

The new Justice Secretary, Jack Straw, told The Times last week that the Government would not be able to build its way out of the crisis and there needed to be a “national conversation” about the issue.

He indicated that the only way in which the pressure could be relieved was by sending fewer people to jail and using more non-custodial sentences.

Mr Straw signalled a renewed government focus on finding alternatives to prison.

Even if he could click his fingers “and magic an extra 10,000 places”, overcrowding issues would still need to be countered, he added.

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