More than 1,700 prisoners have been freed from jail early, the Ministry of Justice has announced.
Of those released, 344 were convicted of violence, 65 people were sentenced for drug offences, 37 for fraud and forgery and 219 for motoring offences.
Prisons minister David Hanson said 30 of those freed were recalled to jail within the first few days of new emergency measures, for reasons such as failing to keep in touch with their probation officer.
Most of the total had been sentenced to six months imprisonment or less - numbering 1,227 - but 289 had been jailed for between one and four years.
If the first week's total was repeated every week over the course of a year it would mean nearly 88,500 offenders being freed early.
Shadow justice secretary Nick Herbert said: "It is totally unacceptable that over 1,700 prisoners have been released early on to the streets, including violent offenders, those who have committed theft and drugs-related offences and a fifth of whom have committed crimes sufficiently serious that they were originally sentenced to longer than a year in prison."
He added:"The public is being placed at risk and the blame lies squarely with ministers who ten years ago ignored future projections of the prison population and failed to build adequate capacity."
A mixture of law, politics, autobiography and humour. Once described as "The Devilish Advocate" (Guardian), I do have the ability to provoke a response. Sometimes it comes from someone who uses a thought process, and sometimes from jerks usually associated with the knee.
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