Justice Secretary David Lammy has revealed that a dozen prisoners were mistakenly released in the past month, with two still at large. The admission on Tuesday morning intensifies pressure on the government despite recent pledges of stronger security checks for prisons.
Lammy told ITV's Good Morning Britain that 12 inmates had been freed by error since his statement to Parliament on November 11. He stressed that the two individuals who remain at large are not violent or sexual offenders. «I'm not going to give details of those cases, because these are operational decisions made by the police, and you'll understand if they're about to arrest somebody they don't want me to blow the cover,» he said.
The latest releases add to a mounting crisis in the prison system. Government figures show that 91 accidental releases occurred between April 1 and October 31 this year. In the year to March 2025, 262 inmates were mistakenly let out - a 128% increase compared to 115 in the previous 12 months.
Blaming the Previous Government
Lammy attributed the rising trajectory of mistaken releases to the previous administration. He told Parliament: «I made clear to Parliament that the trajectory began to increase in the last four years of the last Government because of their new release scheme, the complexity of that system.» The Justice Secretary also pointed to jails still relying on paper-based systems as part of the problem.
Despite implementing enhanced security checks, mistakes continue at a rate of one or two cases per week. Lammy acknowledged a «mountain to climb» to address the crisis.
High-Profile Cases
Several mistaken releases have sparked public concern. Hadush Kebatu, a now-deported Ethiopian national, was accidentally freed from HMP Chelmsford on October 24. He had been arrested for sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl and a woman while residing in an asylum hotel - an incident that sparked protests in Epping, Essex.
Algerian sex offender Brahim Kaddour-Cherif was mistakenly released from HMP Wandsworth and later arrested in Finsbury Park. Billy Smith, 35, was also accidentally freed from HMP Wandsworth but later handed himself back to authorities.
Lammy told LBC Radio: «There are issues at Wandsworth.» The prison has been at the center of multiple release errors, raising questions about operational procedures.
The government had launched an independent investigation into releases in error following the Kebatu case. However, the continued blunders demonstrate that the problem persists despite reform efforts.
Note: This article was created with Artificial Intelligence (AI).
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