Lammy slammed by colleagues for 'cowardice' over prison blunders as figures reveal spike in release errors

Lammy is facing accusations of "cowardice" and "incompetence" from colleagues after he repeatedly refused to confirm that Brahim Kaddour-Cherif had been released when filling in at Prime Minister's Questions on Wednesday.

His reaction to the news that Kaddour-Cherif and fraudster Billy Smith had both been mistakenly let out of HMP Wandsworth in the past week has come under question after a evasive display in the Commons.

Mr Lammy is also under fire after the Telegraph revealed that there has been a huge spike in the number of violent and sex criminals mistakenly released from prison in the last year.

Figures obtained from the Ministry of Justice show 87 violent offenders and three sex offenders had been wrongly freed in the year to March 25.

The number is a huge jump from the nine violent lags and two sex criminals that had been freed in the year to 2024.

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Lammy has rebuffed calls from Speaker Lindsay Hoyle to return to Parliament amid the prisons crisis.

This refusal had led one cabinet minister to tell The Times: "It's cowardly. He should have fronted up and owned it. I still don't understand why he didn't confirm it or make a statement in the Commons.

"He left it to a junior minister to do the broadcast round this morning. The handling is terrible".

A second minister added that the events brought Lammy's judgement into question.

Earlier on Thursday, Sir Keir Starmer's number two met prison governors to discuss the release blunders.

After the summit in Leicestershire, he announced that the current system of releasing convicts will be modernised

Lammy said that "engineers, analysts and designers will be deployed to roll out cutting-edge technology to more prisons" in order to reduce human error in the "archaic" release process.

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Mr Lammy also released a video on X on Thursday evening where he said he "was shocked as anyone" at the amount of mistaken prison releases as he vowed to “leave no stone unturned” to fix the problem.

Eleven governors from prisons across the country met with him on Thursday who told first-hand of the challenges that can contribute to a release in error and what additional support should be provided to prison staff.

It is hoped the measures will reduce human error and modernise the "archaic" processes that have led to mistakes.

These measures will build on the tough new checks that were brought in last month, and ensure Governor oversight of all releases.

Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy told reporters: "I'm sending in crack teams to deal with some of the technology issues that we're seeing in our prisons because this is a paper-based system. 

"I'm meeting with governors today. The question is, what do they need from me? What can I see from them? That's the system we've got.

"The rate of release by error is too high. It has to come down. That's why I've asked Dame Lynne Owens to review this and come back to me as quickly as she's able to do."

He added: "Our prison system is in crisis, so we have to bear down on this, but we have a mountain to climb."

The Deputy Prime Minister has also ordered an independent investigation, led by Dame Lynne Owens and launched last month.

Speaking on X, Mr Lammy said: "I'm as shocked as anyone that these releases in error are happening at this rate.

"I'm determined to grip it, but there’s a mountain to climb which cannot be done overnight.

"I've already brought in stronger release checks with more direct accountability and I’ve asked Dame Lynn Owens to conduct an independent review to look at action we can take going forward.

"Today, I’ve convened prison governors to understand what further support they need to stop these errors and we’re standing up a digital rapid response unit that will be in prisons within 48 hours, including Wandsworth, focused on using cutting-edge tech to reduce some of the human error."

He added: "We will leave no stone unturned to identify these issues so we can bear down on this problem and ensure the public is properly protected."