Five other prisoners released in error in last seven days, union boss admits after Hadush Kebatu blunder
The incident has prompted an independent inquiry to find out why migrant sex offender Kebatu was wrongly released on Friday
Five other prisoners have been released by mistake from jails over the last seven days, a union chief has said, after a migrant sex offender was released from HMP Chelmsford by mistake.
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Ethiopian national Hadush Kebatu was wrongly freed from the Essex jail on Friday instead of being sent to an immigration detention centre.
The migrant, who had been living at the Bell Hotel in Epping, Essex when he sexually assaulted a 14-year-old girl and a woman, travelled to London where he was arrested on Sunday morning in Finsbury Park after a two-day manhunt.
The incident has prompted an independent inquiry to find out what went wrong and a prison officer has been suspended while the probe is carried out.
The national chairman of the Prison Officers' Association (POA), Mark Fairhurst, said more incidents have taken place in a week.
Mr Fairhurst said Prison Service leaders have known mistaken releases have been a "regular occurrence" for the last year.
He added: "And only this week, over the last seven days, there's been five releases in errors from five separate prisons."
Mr Fairhurst told the PA news agency that two mistaken releases were made from HMP Pentonville, in north London, while the other three were at HMP Durham, The Mount prison in Hertfordshire, and from Reading Crown Court.
No prison officers have been suspended over the other five releases, Mr Fairhurst said.
The Ministry of Justice disputed the number of prisoners released in error but confirmed some took place in the last seven days.
One prisoner is still at large after being mistakenly freed, it is understood.
According to Government figures published in July, 262 prisoners were released in error in the year to March 2025 - a 128% increase on 115 in the previous 12 months.
Mr Fairhurst said he thinks the mistakes are a lot to do with staff training, and also said that with the early release schemes introduced to tackle jail overcrowding "it is a confusing time for everyone".
Of Kebatu's accidental release, Mr Fairhurst said: "Somewhere along the line there has been a mistake, from the paperwork being processed in an offender management unit, to the two management checks that were carried out before that release, to the discharge process.
"Somewhere on that paperwork, it's been missed that we should have held this person in reception until the immigration service picked him up for deportation."
Kebatu was set for deportation under an early removals scheme (ERS) for foreign national offenders, but was released in "what appears to have been in human error", the Justice Secretary told MPs on Monday.
David Lammy also confirmed stronger release checks will come into force immediately to try and stop similar mistakes happening again, while Mr Fairhurst said the POA "will not accept any scapegoating of staff" over Hadush Kebatu's mistaken release.
The POA is supporting the prison officer, who the union believes has been "unfairly" suspended.
A Ministry of Justice spokesman said: "Releases in error have been increasing for several years and are another symptom of the prison system crisis inherited by this Government.
"As well as building more prison places and reforming sentencing, we have introduced mandatory, stronger prisoner release checks to keep our streets safe and protect the public."
The spokesman added that the investigation announced by Mr Lammy will "establish the full facts of the incident and look at the serious issue of releases in error across the prison estate".