Labour ministers are lining up plans to create an American-style prison where inmates can reduce their prison time by earning points for good behaviour.
Later this year, Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood is set to visit Texas to muster up some ideas of how the British prison system can copy its success in lowering re-offending rates.
Inmates in the sate of Texas can slash their prison sentence by earning points for stellar behaviours.
They are also awarded credits if they take part in workshops that face the underlying causes of their offending, for example substance abuse.
Prisoners can also enrol in vocational and educational training, sessions on drug rehabilitation and behavioural change to reduce their time behind bars.
Labour ministers are lining up plans to create an American-style prison where inmates can reduce their prison time by earning points for good behaviour and attending workshops (Pictured: Wandsworth Prison)
Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood (Pictured) is set to visit Texas to assess if Britain could replicate their scheme which has seen the Texan prison population fall by 15 per cent
James Timpson OBE, who is the current Prisons minister will also be visiting the US state alongside the cabinet minister to assess if the plan could work
According to The Times, it is believed that Prisons minister, Lord Timpson alongside the Justice Secretary are assessing whether a similar system could work on English and Welsh soil.
Currently a prisoners in the two countries are released depending on how dangerous they are to the public.
Back in 2007, Texan prisons were in a similar state to Britains current crisis, with penitentiaries at capacity with an estimated $2 billion needed to create and operate an extra 17,000 in a five year time frame.
However Republican governor Rick Perry, opted to launch a committee to brain-storm how to reduce re-offending in lieu of building more prisons.
As a result hundreds of millions of dollars was pumped into vocational, education and drug treatment programmes which would earn inmates time off their jail time.
The reforms meant the US state could shutter 16 jails and save around $2 billion, with the prison population decreasing by 15 per cent from 2007 to 2023.
However a UK source believes the Texas prison model would only be successful with considerable financial backing.
This comes as Labour desperately scramble to tackle the over population crisis in English and Welsh prisons (stock image)
Since taking office, Keir Starmers Labour government has cut the proportion of a sentence inmates must serve behind bars from 50 per cent to 40 per cent in a bid to take on the issue
The source told The Times: If there’s no additional money then this will be a totally cosmetic exercise.
The Ministry of Justice is currently stuck in negotiations with the Treasury ahead of next months budget and the upcoming spending review this spring, amid worries that the department may experience significant cuts instead of increased funding.
MailOnline has approached the Ministry of Justice for comment.
This comes as Labour recently introduced an early release prison scheme in England and Wales in a bid to tackle the over-crowding epidemic in British prisons.
However the early release prison scheme was in crisis last night as it emerged domestic abusers have been freed by mistake.
Dozens of offenders convicted of breaching a restraining order have been wrongly let out of jail.
The Ministry of Justice is now striving to avoid more ineligible offenders being freed after the oversight emerged.
In all, 37 men were released in error. Most have now been recalled to jail but five were still on the loose last night.
Jails have been ordered to manually recalculate prisoners correct release dates after the shocking mix-up.
File. A memo was sent last week requiring jails to reassess all prisoners serving time for an offence commonly imposed on domestic abusers within two days
Justice Sec Shabana Mahmood delivers her keynote speech at the Labour Party Conference
Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood introduced the early release scheme, known as SDS40, earlier this month to free space in the overcrowded jails.
An internal Ministry of Justice memo, seen by the Mail, said: It is essential that prisons take action to identify any releases in error and prevent any future releases in error as a result of this issue.
Immediate action is needed to check all breach of restraining order sentences in custody and releases since SDS40 went live on September 10.
The memo was sent on Wednesday last week and required jails to reassess all prisoners serving time for the offence, which is commonly imposed on domestic abusers, within two days.
The document said prisoners convicted of the offence may have been incorrectly sentenced under the Protection from Harassment Act 1997 instead of the Sentencing Act 2020.
Only those under the later legislation should have been eligible for early release.
The memo said the issue could not have been foreseen or prevented by prisons and they would not face further action. Instead, a ministry team will carry out a review of all cases caused by this issue, it added.
Domestic Abuse Commissioner Nicole Jacobs voiced her opposition to SDS40 earlier this month.The watchdog said the scheme did not go far enough to protect victims from their abusers.
There is no justice in allowing perpetrators of domestic abuse to be released early, she said.
I have made it clear to Government that to safeguard victims, all offenders with a known history of domestic abuse must be exempt from this scheme.
The commissioner declined to comment on the latest development last night.
There is set to be a review on sentencing next month, headed by Labours home secretary where they will look to other countries such as Scandanavia and the Netherlands to better tackle the prison population crisis.
A decision will not be made until the review has been released alongside its recommendations i 2025, according to The Times.
There were sickening scenes of celebration outside jails as the first inmates were released on September 10, with some thanking Sir Keir Starmer and swearing to be lifelong Labour voters as a result of the scheme.
Terrorists and sex offenders are exempt from the sentence discount, along with violent criminals serving more than four years imprisonment.
The Mail revealed earlier this month that a criminal had been charged with sexually assaulting a woman just an hour after being let out under the scheme.
The 31-year-old offender allegedly assaulted a woman while on the way from prison to a railway station, and then went on the run.
File. Terrorists and sex offenders are exempt from the sentence discount, along with violent criminals serving more than four years
An MoJ spokesman said: We are working with the police to urgently return a very small number of offenders to custody.
The convictions remain valid with offenders monitored since their release and will soon be back behind bars.
He added: Public safety is our first priority.
That is why we took decisive action to fix the broken prison system we inherited and keep the most dangerous offenders locked up.
This included blocking the early release of domestic abuse offences such as stalking and controlling behaviour.