Health
14 May, 2026
On 1 October, the first wave of early releases under the Sentencing Act 2026 began. Around 700 people left prison on day one, with some 5,000 due out in stages through to June 2027. Victims’ groups are angry, and probation officers have warned they may not have the capacity to supervise everyone being released.
Almost all of the debate has focused on the back end of the system: who gets out, when, and on what conditions. Far less attention has gone to the front end. Who are the people filling those cells, and when did we first have the chance to change their path?
In a Public Health Wales and Bangor University study of men at HMP Parc, 84% reported at least one adverse childhood experience (ACE), against a Welsh average of 46%. Those who had been through a young offender institution reported even higher levels.
The picture goes beyond trauma. Justice inspectors estimate that half of people entering prison may have some form of neurodivergent condition, including ADHD, autism, learning difficulties or brain injury. Ministry of Justice figures showed 57% of adult prisoners had literacy levels below those expected of an 11-year-old. And the population is young: in 2024, more than a quarter of people in prison in England and Wales were under 30.
Put simply, a large share of today’s prison population are adults who were once children in difficulty. Many were known to services long before they reached a courtroom.
Whenever we talk about trauma, exploitation or early intervention, someone will say we are making excuses for people who cause harm. We understand why. Victims and communities deserve justice, and nobody at L&D Hub is arguing that anyone should escape accountability for what they do.
But understanding why harm happens is how we stop the next victim. Waiting until the damage is done and then locking someone up is the most expensive and least effective point to step in. If we are serious about protecting communities, and about the capacity crisis now playing out in our prisons, the logical place to act is earlier: before the first offence, before the grooming takes hold, before the cell.
Child criminal exploitation (CCE) happens when an individual or group uses an imbalance of power to coerce, control or manipulate a child into crime, from county lines to cannabis farms. Social workers recorded CCE 15,750 times in 2024. Child sexual exploitation (CSE) was identified for 12,120 children assessed by children’s social care in the year to March 2025.
These children often come to the attention of services as offenders. They are arrested carrying drugs or caught up in violence. Research by Crest Advisory found repeated missed opportunities to act on red flags. Some go on to recruit others. If we only see the offence, we miss the exploitation behind it, and the adult profiting from it.
The law is catching up. The Crime and Policing Act 2026 created a standalone offence of child criminal exploitation, aimed at the adults who coerce children into crime. It only works if professionals recognise exploitation when it is in front of them.
Girls make up 67% of children assessed as affected by CSE, compared with 43% of all children in need. In criminal exploitation, though, they are frequently overlooked. Government guidance notes that girls and young women are often exploited in different roles, frequently alongside sexual harm, and so are often missed as victims of CCE. Charities report rising referrals of girls into county lines support, and warn that many more are not being identified at all.
Our December webinar, Before the Cell: Child Exploitation and Early Intervention, brings these threads together. Delivered by practitioners with frontline expertise in exploitation and violence reduction, the session will build a clear baseline understanding of CCE and CSE, explore the victim-perpetrator overlap, look at the specific risks facing girls and young women, and show how contextual safeguarding helps professionals respond to harm in the places and peer groups where it actually happens.
Whether you work in youth work, social care, education, health, policing or criminal justice, or you simply believe prison is the answer, this conversation is for you.
The webinar is free and takes place online on Wednesday 2 December, 4–5pm. Book your place here.
