Why are so many prisoners being released by mistake?

The government has launched an independent investigation after the accidental release of a “high profile” prisoner “left jaws on the floor”, said Chris Mason, the BBC’s political editor.

Ethiopian national Hadush Kebatu, who was jailed for 12 months in September for sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl and a woman, was due to be deported at the end of his sentence but was mistakenly released on Friday, before being recaptured in London on Sunday.

How many prisoners are wrongly released?

In the 12 months to March this year, 262 prisoners were released in error, a 128% increase from 115 the previous year, according to government data. The total prison population in England and Wales is approximately 86,000.

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The vast majority of the “blunders” – 233 – occurred in prisons, while the remaining 29 happened in courts, said The Telegraph.

How do prisoners get released in error?

There are a variety of reasons. During the government’s emergency prison release scheme in September 2024 to tackle overcrowding, 37 inmates were freed in error because their offences were wrongly logged under repealed legislation.

The prison where Kebatu was mistakenly released was “conned into freeing a fraudster two years ago”, said The Times. In June 2023, HMP Chelmsford received an email purporting to be from the Royal Courts of Justice instructing the prison to release Junead Ahmed, who was awaiting trial on suspicion of fraud. After prison staff released Ahmed they received further emails from the same sender with apparent orders for the release of other inmates. They then “realised the emails were fake”.

Elsewhere, a computer system “designed to automate the calculation of release dates has ‘failed to function as planned’”, forcing prison staff to “work out complex release calculations by hand using calculators”, said The i Paper.

It shouldn’t be “difficult or complicated to correctly calculate release dates”, or to “issue accurate instructions for transferring prisoners and ensure they are followed”, said former prisoner David Shipley in The Spectator. But accidental releases are “all too common” – “time and again, our prisons demonstrate they can’t do the basics”.

Why are numbers rising?

It’s “quite possible” that overcrowding is “one of the reasons for the increase in these mistakes”, Ian Acheson, a former prison governor, told The Telegraph. There are “literally thousands of movements a year of people going to and from courts” and “people going to and from” different jails, said another former governor, John Podmore.

In addition to general overcrowding in the penal system, there’s been a “doubling” in the number of prisoners held on remand awaiting trial. Numbers have reached a 50-year high of more than 17,500 – around a fifth of the entire prison population. These inmates have to be “regularly transferred to and from court for hearings”, which increases the pressure on the “often inexperienced officers” who are “receiving and discharging prisoners”.

What can be done?

Speaking in the House of Commons, Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy said that “any release in error is one too many”. He has “taken immediate action to introduce the strongest release checks ever”.

From now on a prison duty governor must be physically present when any foreign criminal is being released early to be deported. There will be a “clear checklist with governors required to confirm every step has been followed before any release takes place”.