A leading prisons expert has issued a stark warning that errors leading to the accidental release of inmates are now increasing at a faster rate than the UK's overall prison population, indicating a system in deep crisis.
A Disturbing Trend in the Justice System
The scale of the problem was highlighted this week as the London Metropolitan Police and Surrey Police searched for two inmates wrongly freed from HMP Wandsworth. Brahim Kaddour-Cherif, a 24-year-old sex offender, was released by mistake on October 29, though authorities were not alerted until November 4. William \"Billy\" Smith, a 35-year-old convicted fraudster, was also erroneously released on November 3.
While Smith has since handed himself in and Kaddour-Cherif was apprehended in Islington and returned to custody, the incidents have cast a harsh spotlight on a growing systemic failure.
Data Reveals a Sharp Increase in Errors
Cassia Rowland, a senior researcher specialising in criminal justice at the Institute for Government, told the Daily Mirror that such mistakes have \"become quite common.\" While the numbers remain a small fraction of the tens of thousands of releases each year, the trend is sharply upward.
Official data from HM Prison Service, published in July, provides alarming confirmation. In the 12 months to March 2025, 262 prisoners were released in error. This marks a staggering 128 percent increase from the 115 accidental releases recorded in 2024.
This rise drastically outpaces the growth of the prison population itself, which currently stands at 87,334—a mere one percent increase on the previous year.
No 'Quick Fix' for a Broken System
According to Ms Rowland, high-profile cases like the recent accidental release of sex offender Hadush Kebatu have finally brought the issue to the fore, piling pressure on the Labour government. Justice Secretary David Lammy has promised to introduce the \"strongest checks ever\" to prevent further incidents.
However, the expert suggests that such provisional measures are unlikely to provide an immediate solution. The core issue, she explains, is that the prison system is failing across multiple fundamental areas.
\"The problem is prisons at the moment are failing to deliver on basic requirements,\" Ms Rowland stated. \"We can't keep prisoners safe. We cannot keep prisoners staff safe, effectively. Some prisons can't even tell you how many prisoners they're holding. If all of your systems are broken, there's no system you can put in place that will fix things.\"
She concluded with a sobering assessment for the government and the public: \"There's not much chance that the provisional checks will fix things quickly - I think there is no quick way out.\"
