The UK's justice system is facing intense scrutiny as it is revealed that four prisoners mistakenly released from custody remain at large, deepening a crisis of confidence in the prison service.
Mounting Pressure on Ministers
This alarming situation comes as ministers confront mounting pressure over a series of high-profile manhunts. Justice Secretary David Lammy conceded on Friday that there is a "mountain to climb" to tackle the escalating crisis within the prisons system.
The details show a disturbing pattern: two of the four missing prisoners were freed by mistake last year. Another two are understood to have been erroneously released as recently as June this year and have also not been apprehended.
A Series of High-Profile Blunders
The issue was thrust into the spotlight following the recent arrest of Algerian sex offender Brahim Kaddour-Cherif. The 24-year-old was arrested on Friday after a police search. He had been mistakenly released from HMP Wandsworth the previous week, yet Scotland Yard revealed officers were only informed of the error three days later, on Tuesday.
In a related incident, Billy Smith, 35, who was also accidentally freed from the same jail on Monday, handed himself back in on Thursday.
These blunders have intensified the pressure on Mr Lammy, a situation initially sparked by the mistaken release of Hadush Kebatu. Kebatu's arrest for sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl and a woman while living in an asylum hotel had already provoked public protests in Epping, Essex. He was accidentally freed from HMP Chelmsford on October 24.
In response to that case, the government announced stronger security checks for prisons and launched an independent investigation into releases in error. The Ethiopian national has since been deported.
A System in Crisis: The Shocking Statistics
Official figures paint a bleak picture of a system failing at a fundamental level. According to the latest Government data, 262 inmates were mistakenly released in the year to March 2025. This represents a staggering 128% increase on the 115 mistaken releases recorded in the previous 12 months.
Perhaps most alarmingly, of that total, 90 releases in error were of violent or sex offenders.
Further details emerged about Kaddour-Cherif, who was serving a sentence for trespass with intent to steal but had a previous conviction for indecent exposure. It is understood he had overstayed his visitor’s visa after arriving in the UK in 2019 and was in the process of being deported.
Political Fallout and Government Response
The political reaction has been swift and severe. Responding to the news of the four missing prisoners on Friday, shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick launched a scathing attack, stating, "The Government keeps putting the British people at risk and is relentlessly failing victims." He pointedly questioned public confidence in David Lammy.
In his defence, Mr Lammy highlighted the inherited nature of the problem. "We inherited a prison system in crisis and I’m appalled at the rate of releases in error this is causing," he said on Friday.
He outlined his response, stating, "I’m determined to grip this problem... I have ordered new tough release checks, commissioned an independent investigation into systemic failures and begun overhauling archaic paper-based systems still used in some prisons." Despite these measures, he acknowledged that the solution "cannot be done overnight."
