Almost 200 prisoners released by Ministry of Justice by mistake last year, new figures show
Almost 200 prisoners were mistakenly released in England and Wales last year, new figures have revealed.
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Data showed that 179 inmates were freed "in error" by the Ministry of Justice between April 2025 and March 2026.
The MoJ said on Wednesday: "If the person released is not aware of the error and makes no attempt to evade arrest, then they have committed no additional offence and in that sense, they may not be at fault.
"If it is believed that the situation was manipulated by the prisoner, for example by taking the identity of another person, then this will be classified as an escape, and not a release in error."
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Releases classed as "in error" includes misplaced warrants for imprisonment or remand, sentence miscalculations, or the result of mistakes by courts or other authorities.
Justice Secretary David Lammy has previously come under fire over the release blunders when news of accidental releases emerged last year, but the total is down slightly on the previous year, when 262 prisoners were wrongly freed.
It emerged in February that a suspected rapist was accidentally set free and managed to leave the country just weeks before he is due to stand trial.
Migrant sex offender Hadush Kebatu sparked a two-day manhunt after he was wrongly released from prison in October.
The 41-year-old, who had been living at the Bell Hotel in Epping, Essex, was jailed for 12 months on September 23 last year after he was found guilty of sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl and a woman.
The incident sparked nationwide protests.
The Ethiopian national was mistakenly released from HMP Chelmsford instead of being sent to an immigration detention centre, triggering a two-day manhunt.
Just weeks later, a double manhunt was launched after two prisoners were released in error from HMP Wandsworth less than one week apart.
Convicted fraudster William Smith, 35, and sex offender Brahim Kaddour-Cherif, 24, were freed from the category B prison in November.
Smith handed himself in, but Kaddour-Cherif was re-arrested after a member of the public spotted him in the Finsbury Park area of north London.
Mr Lammy had come under fire after refusing to answer directly whether another foreign offender had been let out by mistake, minutes before it was confirmed to be true.
Former Metropolitan Police deputy commissioner Dame Lynne Owens, who was asked to lead an inquiry into how he was mistakenly released, said the problem is a “symptom of a broken system”.
Speaking to LBC's Nick Ferrari at Breakfast while the two men were still on the run, the deputy PM admitted work still needed to be done to strengthen the system.
He said: "I can't tell you the circumstances. I can give you the facts.
"We've got a paper based system, as you know. We need to move to a digital system.
"I've put in a new digital crack team to help our prisons. There's been a bit of a mission between our courts and our prisons."
Responding to Dame Lynne's report, Mr Lammy said: "This independent review makes clear the unacceptable rise in release in errors have resulted from a broken system caused by 14 years of underinvestment and overcrowding in our prisons and courts."
Former HMP Wandsworth prisoner Chris Atkins also told LBC News inmates were accidentally released during his time there.
He told James Hanson: "When I was at Wandsworth, this was pretty common.
"The British prison system has been falling apart after the last 15 years, the chaos and dysfunction is endemic."
"One of the reasons is that prisons are living in the dark ages. They're really resistant to any kind of technological approach or updates."
He continued: "This is one of many, many problems that is facing the prison system. It's not that prisons are perfect except for this."