The chief inspector of prisons has mentioned the latest spate of prisoners being launched too early is “a symptom of a system that is close to breaking point”.
Charlie Taylor’s evaluation comes as it’s revealed that two prisoners wrongly launched final 12 months are nonetheless at massive, as are two others believed to have been freed in error in June this 12 months.
Writing in The Day by day Telegraph, Mr Taylor mentioned the rising variety of mistaken early releases was “embarrassing and potentially dangerous”.
He additionally put it right down to “an overcomplicated sentencing framework” and described it as “a symptom of a system that is close to breaking point”.
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Sky’s Tom Parmenter confronts Brahim Kaddour-Cherifm, who was arrested on Friday after a police search following his launch from HMP Wandsworth in south London final week
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In full: Second intercourse offender arrested
He mentioned jail inspections “repeatedly highlight the failure to keep prisons secure, safe and decent, and to provide the sort of activity that will help inmates get work on release”.
In his opinion piece, the chief inspector pointed to successive governments’ responses to the overcrowding disaster within the system, which put stress on “junior prison staff who repeatedly had to recalculate every prisoner’s release date”.
These calculations, he wrote, had been made more durable by a sequence of early-release schemes introduced in by successive governments.
The adjustments, he mentioned, “increase the likelihood of mistakes and in three years the number of releases in error has gone up from around 50 a year to 262”.
It comes as ministers face mounting stress over a sequence of high-profile manhunts, with Justice Secretary David Lammy admitting on Friday there’s a “mountain to climb” to sort out the disaster within the jail system.
Algerian intercourse offender Brahim Kaddour-Cherif, 24, was arrested on Friday after a police search following his launch from HMP Wandsworth in south London final week, which Scotland Yard mentioned officers solely came upon about on Tuesday.
His recapture was partly right down to investigative work by Sky’s nationwide correspondent, Tom Parmenter, who tracked Kaddour-Cherif right down to Finsbury Park in north London earlier than he handed himself in to police.
Convicted fraudster Billy Smith, 35, handed himself again in on Thursday after being unintentionally free of the identical jail on Monday.
It follows the mistaken launch of Hadush Kebatu, who was convicted of sexually assaulting a 14-year-old lady and a lady whereas residing in an asylum lodge. The incidents sparked protests in Epping, Essex.
Jail safety checks have been toughened and an impartial investigation into mistaken releases launched after the now-deported Ethiopian nationwide was unintentionally free of HMP Chelmsford on 24 October.
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Hadush Kebatu was convicted of sexually assaulting a 14-year-old lady and one other lady. Pic: Crown Prosecution Service/PA
A complete of 262 inmates have been mistakenly set free within the 12 months to March 2025 – a 128% enhance on the 115 within the earlier 12 months, in line with the most recent official figures.
Of the overall, 90 releases in error have been of violent or intercourse offenders.
Kaddour-Cherif was serving a sentence for trespass with intent to steal, however had beforehand been convicted for indecent publicity.
He’s understood to have overstayed his customer’s visa to the UK after arriving in 2019, and was within the means of being deported.
Requested concerning the 4 lacking prisoners on Friday, shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick mentioned: “The chaos continues. The government keeps putting the British people at risk and is relentlessly failing victims. Does anyone have confidence in David Lammy?”
Mr Lammy mentioned on Friday: “We inherited a prison system in crisis, and I’m appalled at the rate of releases in error this is causing.
“I am decided to grip this drawback, however there’s a mountain to climb which can’t be finished in a single day.
A Ministry of Justice spokesperson mentioned releases in error “have been increasing for several years and are another symptom of a justice system crisis inherited by this government”.
In a press release on Saturday, the ministry mentioned it has launched “mandatory, stronger prisoner release checks to keep our streets safe and protect the public as well as investing record amounts into our courts – including to improve operational assurance.
“We’re additionally investing billions, reforming sentencing and constructing the jail locations wanted to maintain the general public secure.”
