Minister Confirms Rise in Wrongful Prisoner Releases
Cabinet minister Lisa Nandy has publicly acknowledged that the number of mistaken prisoner releases has increased since the Labour government took office. The Culture Secretary described the situation as 'completely unacceptable', confirming that the average number of wrongful releases has risen from 17 under the previous government to 22 under the current administration.
Lammy Defended Amid Parliamentary Scrutiny
Ms Nandy strongly defended her colleague, Justice Secretary David Lammy, who has faced intense criticism for his handling of the crisis. She denied claims that Mr Lammy was being 'evasive' when he recently declined to answer specific questions in Parliament about a wrongly freed prisoner. 'I was in the House of Commons chamber,' Ms Nandy stated, 'and I could see that he was weighing up in his mind what information to release.'
The scrutiny intensified following the mistaken release of now-deported migrant Hadush Kebatu and the subsequent case of Algerian sex offender Brahim Kaddour-Cherif, who was wrongly freed from HMP Wandsworth. Mr Lammy was questioned at Prime Minister's Questions about whether any more asylum seekers had been mistakenly released, though Kaddour-Cherif is understood not to be an asylum seeker.
System at 'Breaking Point' as Figures Revealed
According to the latest Government figures, 262 inmates were mistakenly released in the year to March 2025 – a staggering 128% increase on the 115 releases in the previous 12 months. Of these, 90 were violent or sex offenders.
Chief inspector of prisons Charlie Taylor stated that these errors are 'a symptom of a system that is close to breaking point', citing both an overcomplicated sentencing framework and systemic failures.
Mr Lammy has since appointed Dame Lynn Owens, former director of the National Crime Agency, to address the crisis. The government plans to tackle the antiquated paper-based system from the 1980s, build new prisons, and implement additional security checks to prevent future erroneous releases.
Meanwhile, two prisoners mistakenly released last year remain at large, along with another two freed in error in June 2025. Kaddour-Cherif was arrested in Finsbury Park on Friday, while another prisoner, Billy Smith, 35, who was accidentally freed from HMP Wandsworth, handed himself back in on Thursday.
