Recalled to Prison: Why It Happens and How to Get Out

Since 31 March 2026 a fixed term recall means 56 days in prison rather than the 14 or 28 days it used to mean — and if you are excluded from fixed term recall, you can be held to the end of your sentence instead.

Here is why recall happens, the two types, and what you can do about it. "Licence" means the period after release when you are still serving your sentence in the community under supervision.

What your licence requires

Everyone released on licence from a determinate sentence — one with a fixed length — signs a licence with eight standard conditions. Under the Licence Conditions Policy Framework, re-issued on 8 September 2026 with an implementation date of 1 October 2026, those conditions are to:

• "Behave well in a way that supports the purpose of you being on licence, and do not commit any crime."
• Keep in touch and meet with your supervising officer as they tell you to, "including meeting them where you live"
• Get their permission "to stay at an address and if you want to stay somewhere else for one or more nights"
• Tell them about any new work you want to do, and "get their approval before you start this work"
• Tell them about "any names you use that are different to the names on this licence"
• Tell them if your contact details change, "for example, your phone number or email address"
• Get their permission before applying for a new passport, and disclose any passports you already have if asked
• Get their permission before leaving "the United Kingdom, Isle of Man or the Channel Islands"

Extra conditions can be added on top — an exclusion zone (an area you must stay out of), a restriction zone (an area you must stay inside), non-contact conditions, curfews, alcohol monitoring, polygraph requirements. Each has to be both necessary (it addresses a specific identified risk) and proportionate (the least intrusive way of managing that risk).

What counts as a breach

Recall is not automatic on a technical slip. The test probation applies is whether the person "can no longer be safely managed in the community."

The Recall, Review and Re-Release of Recalled Prisoners Policy Framework also requires at least one of two things: "behaviour similar to behaviour surrounding the circumstances of the index offence" — the index offence being the one you were sentenced for — or "behaviour likely to give rise" to a sexual or violent offence. Note the "or": the behaviour does not have to resemble your original offence.

The request goes to the Public Protection Casework Section (PPCS), which decides on recall for the Secretary of State.

The two types of recall

There are only two.

Fixed term recall — 56 days

Sections 30 to 33 of and Schedule 4 to the Sentencing Act 2026 came into force on 31 March 2026, replacing the old fixed term recall periods of 14 and 28 days with a single period of 56 days for adults serving standard determinate sentences — an ordinary fixed-length prison sentence, as opposed to an extended or indeterminate one. GOV.UK puts it bluntly: "You'll be sent back to prison for 56 days. When you're released, you'll be back on probation and licence until the end of your sentence."

Release at 56 days is automatic and needs no Parole Board decision. Children, and adults serving youth sentences, are treated differently — a fixed term recall for them is discretionary, decided against set criteria.

Who is excluded. The exclusions are set by law, not by local discretion. Per the Government's factsheet on the measure, five groups get a standard recall instead: those "managed under MAPPA levels 2 or 3" (MAPPA being Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements, the system for jointly managing higher-risk offenders); those convicted of "terrorism or terrorism connected offences, as well as those who pose a terrorist risk"; those convicted of certain national security offences, and anyone who "may be at risk of involvement in foreign power threat activity"; "offenders recalled due to being charged with a new offence"; and those serving a "Sentence for Offenders of Particular Concern (SOPC)".

A 56-day recall can also be converted to a standard recall where the Significant Risk Test is met: where "the Secretary of State believes, on reasonable grounds, that the offender would pose a significant risk of serious harm to the public by carrying out murder or certain specified violent, sexual or terrorist offences if released." That is a test about future risk, not about what you were convicted of.

Standard recall — potentially to the end of your sentence

On a standard recall, GOV.UK is equally direct: "You'll go back to prison until the end of your sentence, unless a parole board or the Secretary of State for Justice decide to release you."

There are built-in checks. Your case is reviewed by day 28 in custody, and your probation officer must contact you within 15 working days to discuss the recall. Your case goes to the Parole Board automatically after 28 days, and the Board can release you straight away or set a date — within one year — for release on licence. If you are not released then, statutory reviews happen every 12 months. Our guide to how Parole Board hearings work sets out what that stage involves.

Getting out again

Make representations, and do it fast

If you think you should be released, ask the prison in writing. This is called "making representations". The deadline is short: within 2 weeks of being told why you are being recalled. A family member, friend or legal adviser can write for you. Do not let that fortnight go by.

Risk Assessed Recall Review

A second route does not involve the Parole Board at all. A Risk Assessed Recall Review (RARR) can be carried out by PPCS at any point during the recall. If your probation officer assesses your risk as manageable in the community again, PPCS can re-release you without waiting for a Board decision.

What this means for you

If you have just been recalled. Find out which type it is, in writing. Fixed term means 56 days and an automatic release date. Standard means no release date until someone decides one.

If you are inside the two-week window. Make representations. Even a short letter disputing the reason and asking to be considered for release beats silence.

If you were told you are not eligible for the 56 days. Ask which exclusion is being relied on. They are specific, written down, and each is a fact that can be checked. (For people already recalled before 31 March 2026, the change came in on staggered dates by sentence length, up to 12 May 2026.)

If an added licence condition was the problem. Ask whether it was necessary and proportionate — that is the test it had to meet, and it is a fair question to put.

If you are still out on licence. Two conditions are easy to trip over: the address one and keeping in contact. Get permission before staying anywhere else overnight, and tell your officer before your number changes, not after. If the address itself is the problem, see probation address appeals.

Nobody can tell you a challenge will succeed. What can be done is a careful read of the recall report, the licence and the dates against what the policy framework and the legislation require. Families can start at our page for families.

Talk to us

Case Review UK carries out independent written case reviews by senior UK lawyers and barristers. Fixed fee, no hourly billing, written report in 7 to 14 days. See how it works.

WhatsApp +44 7417 361696 or email enquiries@casereviewuk.co.uk. Send us the licence and the recall paperwork and we will tell you honestly whether there is anything worth reviewing.

This article is general information about recall and licence conditions. It is not legal advice on any individual case. Case Review UK provides independent written document reviews; we are not a firm of solicitors, we do not act for you in court, and we are not a substitute for a solicitor.