A prisoner is being wrongly freed once every two days under Labour, according to Daily Mail analysis shaming the worst offending jails.
Since Keir Starmer took power 18 months ago, 302 inmates have been erroneously released.
Violent and sex offenders are among the catalogue of criminals mistakenly let go as well as thieves and fraudsters.
Justice Secretary David Lammy yesterday humiliatingly admitted jails accidentally freed another 12 inmates in the past month. Two of them remain on the run.
Robert Jenrick, shadow justice secretary, branded the situation a ‘total shambles’.
Under the Tories, analysis suggests a prisoner was mistakenly freed every 5.6 days.
HMP Pentonville, an early-era Victorian category B prison in north London that once held Oscar Wilde behind its walls, has erroneously released seven inmates since Labour stormed to victory last July – the joint highest in the country.
That figure could now be higher, given the official prison-by-prison data breakdown only runs until March 2025.
Among the mistakenly released prisoners from HMP Pentonville were sex offenders, robbers, thieves and two people caught in possession of weapons.
Across all of England and Wales’ prisons, a record 262 releases were made in error in the 2024-25 financial year – more than twice the number of the previous year (115 in 2023-24).
The bulk of those (199) came under Labour, with it taking power in July 2024 – three months into the calendar year.
Ministry of Justice (MoJ) data published three weeks ago showed that 91 accidental releases occurred between April 1 and October 31 this year.
But Mr Lammy revealed on BBC Breakfast yesterday that since he provided that total to MPs on November 11, another 12 inmates had been released in error.
Mr Lammy said the two prisoners still at large were not violent or sexual offenders but he refused to give further details.
The embarrassment was a fresh sore for the Government, which was left reeling after the high-profile jail blunder of Hadush Kebatu, the now-deported migrant at the heart of the asylum protests in Epping, Essex.
Ethiopian national Kebatu was convicted of sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl and a woman in the town but was freed in error by HMP Chelmsford on October 24, instead of being sent to an immigration detention centre.
Justice Secretary David Lammy on BBC Breakfast on Tuesday, during which he revealed there have been 12 further accidental releases of prisoners last month – two of which are still at large
HMP Pentonville (pictured), an early-era Victorian category B prison in north London, accidentally freed the most prisoners in 2024-25 – a total of 16
The Government has been facing mounting pressure after it was revealed last month that two prisoners had been freed in error following the high-profile jail blunder of Hadush Kebatu (pictured), the now-deported migrant at the heart of protests in Epping, Essex
Only days later, Algerian national Brahim Kaddour-Cherif, 24, was accidentally freed from HMP Wandsworth in London on October 29, but was re-arrested on November 7 after a police manhunt.
He was serving a sentence for trespass with intent to steal, but had previously been convicted for indecent exposure.
And then another prisoner, Billy Smith, 35, convicted of fraud offences, was also accidentally freed from the same prison on November 3, but handed himself back in on November 6.
Releases in error can include misplaced warrants for imprisonment or remand, sentence miscalculations or can be a result of mistakes by courts or other authorities, according to the Ministry of Justice.
As well as prisons, another common place where inmates can be mistakenly released from is ‘escort areas’. This counts the time moving between prisons, to and from court hearings or to immigration removal centres.
The MoJ figures show that around one in 10 were released in error from these areas.
However, the data doesn’t make clear how many had been convicted or were in prison on remand, awaiting a trial or sentencing hearing.
Despite the mounting scandal of accidental releases, Mr Lammy, who is also Deputy Prime Minister, boasted that ‘the trend is [going] downwards because of some of the improvements that I’ve put into the system’.
Algerian national Brahim Kaddour-Cherif, 24, was accidentally freed from HMP Wandsworth in London on October 29, but was re-arrested on November 7 after a police manhunt
Then Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood visited HMP Bedford in July 2024 (pictured). It has the highest rate of accidental releases since Labour came to power
He cited a new urgent hotline staffed by court experts for allowing prisons to quickly escalate queries relating to warrants, which aims to reduce the risk of errors.
Stronger security checks were announced for prisons and an independent probe was launched into releases in error after the Kebatu fiasco.
In the wake of Kebatu’s mistaken release, chief inspector of prisons Charlie Taylor said mistakes were happening ‘all the time’ and were symptomatic of the chaos within the system.
Prisons minister Lord James Timpson added that there was ‘no quick fix’ to releases in error, and it was ‘going to take time to get it right’.
The minister also said that a digital team who visited HMP Wandsworth last month had been given the green light to look at using AI chatbots to help with the release of prisoners.
Experts have linked the rising rates of accidental releases since Labour came to power to the party’s controversial policy of early prisoner releases.
Former governor Vanessa Frake-Harris MBE told the Daily Mail last month that Labour’s early release scheme had made sentence calculations a ‘minefield’ and ‘doubled the workload’ for staff.
Experts have linked the rising rates of accidental inmate releases since Labour came to power to the party’s controversial policy of early prisoner releases. Pictured: A man celebrates as he is released from HMP Wandsworth in September 2024
‘Sentence calculations are a minefield, and this scheme doubled the workload and made sentence calculations much more difficult,’ she said.
‘Bear in mind the computer system introduced was not fit for purpose and now the calculations are having to be done manually – meaning someone with a pen, paper and a calculator.
‘That said, these accidental releases are just a small part in a huge number of disasters affecting our prisons ranging from staff shortages and inexperienced staff to overcrowding, drugs, corruption, increasing violence and poor access to work.
‘Knee-jerk reactions from ministers, like introducing five-page release documents which some governors say takes almost a day to do, has just made staff even more stretched and under pressure.’
The MoJ has confirmed that an independent investigation into releases in error is being conducted by Dame Lynne Owens.
It will examine what is causing releases in error, identify systemic factors, assess whether current discharge protocols are robust, and make recommendations to bear down on future releases in error.
Mr Lammy said: ‘The first duty of any Government is to keep the public safe. The rise in releases in error is one symptom of a service under intolerable strain.
‘We are putting in new guardrails around an archaic system, with tougher new checks, reviewing specific failings and modernising prison processes and joint working with courts – all to bear down on the increase in mistakes.
‘That is what victims deserve. That is what the public expects, and this Government will do what it takes to protect the public.”
