Mistakenly freeing prisoners ‘more common because of changes to release’

Mistakenly freeing prisoners has become more common because of changes to how early releases happen, the chief inspector of prisons said.

The comments come after it emerged on Friday that sex offender Hadush Kebatu had been mistakenly freed from HMP Chelmsford instead of being sent to an immigration detention centre.

The error was heavily criticised, with Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer saying it was “totally unacceptable” and shadow home secretary Chris Philp labelling it “staggering incompetence”.

Chief inspector of prisons Charlie Taylor told Times Radio: “I think what’s making it easier to make mistakes are the changes that keep happening to the way in which early release happens.

“So, once there is a tried and tested formula in place and people are used to running it, then there are fewer mistakes.

“It’s become more complicated over the years and it’s become a movable feast which again for those whose job it is to calculate sentences becomes more complicated.

“In this particular case also there will be questions about communication between the prison and the Home Office, and whether that was done in a streamlined way.”

Mr Taylor also said issues can sometimes be traced to staffing.

“What we’re finding very often is fairly inexperienced staff are doing what is a fairly complex task often under huge pressure of time because the churn in these prisons is so high, and therefore we’re seeing far more mistakes being made,” he told Times Radio’s Sunday Morning with Adam Boulton.

“So, if you went back three or four years we were seeing about 50 or 60 of these a year.

“In the last year we’ve seen 250 and it isn’t just prisoners being released early, what we’re also seeing is prisoners released late.”

A recent inspection of HMP Pentonville in north London found prisoners still being held after they should have been released.

In the 12 months to March this year, 262 prisoners were released in error in England and Wales, according to the prison service’s annual digest – that was a 128% increase from 115 the previous year, with 233 involving prisons.

A report by HM Inspectorate of Prisons, after an inspection in January and February 2024, said HMP Chelmsford faced “considerable pressures” because of “national capacity issues” while suffering staff shortfalls in reception and the pre-release team.

Kebatu was found and arrested by police on Sunday morning and an investigation into what went wrong has been ordered – with Chelmsford’s Liberal Democrat MP Marie Goldman calling for a national inquiry.