Following an increase in the number of prisoners released in error in 2024/25, the government has announced stronger release checks and an independent review into releases in error by Dame Lynne Owens.
This Insight looks at why more prisoners have been released in error and how the government is responding.
How are prisoners released from prison?
Before a prisoner is released, His Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) is required to ensure that it is “correct to discharge the prisoner”.
This includes checking:
- the prisoner’s identity
- that HMPPS has received the documents giving the releasing authority of the Parole Board or the Justice Secretary
- that the prisoner is not subject to an outstanding recall from a previous sentence
- that there are no deportation orders
- that there are no other reasons to keep a prisoner in custody
How common are releases in error?
Between April 2024 and March 2025, 262 prisoners were released in error from prisons and courts in England and Wales. This includes those who were released early or late and those who should have been discharged to an immigration removal centre. This is the highest number on record and a 128% increase on those released in error in the year ending March 2024.
The number of prisoners released in error was around 0.5% of the 57,000 correctly released from prison, having finished serving the custodial term of their sentence, in the year ending March 2025.
Some of these releases in error have attracted public attention, including the release of Hadush Kebatu, Billy Smith, and Brahim Kaddour-Cherif.
The Prison Governors’ Association has stated that releases in error are “neither rare nor hidden” and “have occurred under every government’s watch” (PDF). However, the number has been increasing since 2020/21.
The table below shows the number of prisoners released in error since 2006/07:
|
Number of prisoners released in error |
|
|
Year ending March, England and Wales |
|
|
|
Number of prisoners |
|
2006/07 |
52 |
|
2007/08 |
31 |
|
2008/09 |
63 |
|
2009/10 |
68 |
|
2010/11 |
63 |
|
2011/12 |
42 |
|
2012/13 |
44 |
|
2013/14 |
50 |
|
2014/15 |
49 |
|
2015/16 |
64 |
|
2016/17 |
72 |
|
2017/18 |
66 |
|
2018/19 |
64 |
|
2019/20 |
50 |
|
2020/21 |
46 |
|
2021/22 |
54 |
|
2022/23 |
81 |
|
2023/24 |
115 |
|
2024/25 |
262 |
Note: Table provides the number of prisoners wrongly discharged from both prisons and courts. Year ending in March for each year.
Source: GOV.UK, Releases in error, accessed 6 November 2025; Ministry of Justice, HMPPS Annual Digest, April 2024 to March 2025, 31 July 2025 (chapter 1)
Why are releases in error increasing?
The Ministry of Justice says that the rise in the number of prisoners released in error is linked to HMPPS having to “digest and implement a range of operational and legislative changes”, including a large-scale early release scheme due to prison overcrowding.
HMPPS states that initial issues surrounding eligibility for the scheme contributed to the rise in releases in error in the year ending March 2025.
The Justice Secretary, David Lammy, has said that releases in error are a “symptom of the system that we inherited from the Conservatives” with “prisons full” and “reeling from historic funding reductions: a 24% real-terms cut between 2010 and 2015, and 30% cuts in staffing”.
HM Chief Inspector of Prisons, Charlie Taylor, has suggested that the number of “very inexperienced” people working in prisons with large caseloads and limited training has also contributed to the errors. In November 2025, the Justice Secretary stated that over 50% of frontline prison officers have less than five years’ experience.
The Prisons Minister, Lord Timpson, has stated that the “lack of investment in digital technology” in prisons has contributed to the errors, as prison staff have to use “boxes of paperwork” to work out release dates.
What action is the government taking?
New release checks
In October 2025, the Justice Secretary announced new measures to strengthen release checks with “more direct senior accountability for ensuring that protocols and checks are correctly applied, including a clear checklist for governors to determine that every step has been followed before any release takes place”.
The new measures also require a duty governor to be “physically present for the release of any foreign criminal who is being removed from prison early to be immediately deported”.
A new unit is also being set up so that “prisons can escalate queries and get rapid clarifications to reduce the risk of releases in error that emanate from the court system”.
The Justice Secretary states that these are “the strongest release checks that have ever been in place”.
Independent investigation
The Justice Secretary has also announced an independent investigation into Hadush Kebatu’s release and the rise of releases in error, chaired by Dame Lynne Owens, a former Deputy Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police and former Director General of the National Crime Agency.
The Justice Secretary said that the investigation will “get to the bottom of what happened and stop similar unacceptable mistakes in future”, including looking at historic cases, release protocols, staff experience and resources.
Dame Lynne is expected to report back in February 2026.
Upgrading technology
The Justice Secretary has announced that over the next six months, up to £10 million will be spent on “the roll out of new AI-powered tools” in prisons to accelerate “upgrades to the archaic paper-based systems” so that staff can “accurately calculate sentences”.
How have stakeholders reacted?
HM Chief Inspector of Prisons, Charlie Taylor, has said that prisoners being released in error is “symptomatic of the chaos that we’re seeing within the system […] that needs to be fixed by the leadership of the prison service”.
The chair of the Justice Committee, Andy Slaughter, has said that the justice system “is at breaking point” and that releases in error will continue until underlying issues are addressed:
Evidence taken by the Justice Committee has laid bare a crisis-hit prison system, starved of investment over many years which is facing multi-faceted pressures, including overcrowding and understaffing within a decaying prison estate characterised by chaos and instability.
While the day to day running of prison security and public safety are paramount, the current spate of releases in error will be repeated until the underlying failures are addressed.
The Prison Governors’ Association has urged the government to “focus attention on the wider and worsening conditions across our prison estate” (PDF):
Our members […] continue to do their utmost to keep the prison system afloat. At times, it feels like this is against all odds and despite the limited contribution from successive governments to properly enable and resource the service the public rightly expects.
Our commitment remains clear: we will work with any political party or government willing to find meaningful solutions to improve conditions in our prisons. […] But while political parties showboat and grandstand, the real risk to the public is not being effectively managed.
The General Secretary of the Criminal Justice Workers Union, Mike Rolfe, has called the new release checks “another layer of bureaucracy that doesn’t actually solve the problem” and has urged the government to focus on “why people don’t want to work in prisons anymore and why the service is falling apart”.
About the authors: Greg Oxley and Francesca Cooney are researchers at the House of Commons Library
Photo by: Tom Falcon Harding, via Adobe Stock