David Lammy has confirmed that three prisoners who were wrongly released from prisons in England and Wales are still on the run and wanted by police.
A total of 91 prisoners were wrongfully released between April 1 and October 31 this year, the equivalent of about three people a week, according to the latest figures from the Ministry of Justice released on Tuesday.
Downing Street admitted the figures were “shocking” and said they were “symptoms of the system the government inherited from the Tories”.
Justice Minister Mr Lammy told MPs on Tuesday that none of the three men currently at large had been convicted sex offenders. This comes as the government faces mounting pressure over a series of high-profile publications, including Epping, sex offender Hadosh Kabato.
In the following weeks, an Algerian sex offender and a fraudster were also accidentally released from HMP Wandsworth, sparking a double manhunt.
Government figures also show that around 262 prisoners were wrongly released in the year to March 2025 – a 128 per cent rise on the 115 in the previous 12 months.
Of these, 87 were criminals whose main crime was violence against a person and three were rape.
The Department of Justice said wrongful releases can include improper sentences for imprisonment or detention, miscalculations of punishment, or can result from errors by courts or other officials.
Mr Lammy also defended his decision not to directly answer Conservative questions on the issue at Prime Minister’s Questions last week, saying he had not yet been told whether any of those released had been asylum seekers.
“Given the nature of the opposition’s question, I decided to wait until I had all the details, rather than risk giving the House an inaccurate or incomplete or misleading picture of a sensitive case,” he said.
He added that he has “expressly apologized” to the victims whose perpetrators were wrongly released.
Shadow Justice Secretary Robert Genrick said the accidental release of Kabato and the two prisoners that sparked the manhunt was “just the tip of the iceberg” and the British public deserved the “full picture”.
Mr Lammy admitted on Friday that there was a “mountain to climb” to deal with the crisis in the prison system.
Prisons Secretary Lord James Timpson said on Monday there was “no quick fix” for wrongful releases and “it will take time to get it right”.
A No 10 spokesman said: “These numbers are indicative of the system the government has inherited, a prison system under severe pressure, a criminal justice system failing.
“As we stated earlier, the government inherited (a situation) where the Men’s Prison Estate was operating at 99% capacity.
“People are right to be shocked by these cases. While these cases are rare, they have increased year-on-year from an average of nine per month in 2023 to 17 per month next year.”
And we’re clear you can’t solve the prison crisis overnight, but we’ve taken immediate action, including tougher new release reviews, calling in prison governors, sending in technical experts.
Kabato, an Ethiopian national, has since been deported, while Algerian national Brahim Kodour-Sharif was arrested on Friday and is said to be on his way to deportation.
Kador-Sharif was serving time for assault with intent to steal, but had a previous conviction for indecent exposure.
Billy Smith, who was also released from Wandsworth by accident on Monday – handed himself in on Thursday after being sentenced to 45 months for several fraud offences.
After Kabato was released from HMP Chelmsford on October 24, stronger security checks were announced for prisons and an independent inquiry into the wrongful releases was launched.
Kabato was sentenced to 12 months in prison in September for sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl and a woman, sparking month-long protests outside asylum seekers’ hotels across the UK.
Over the weekend, it was reported that a total of four of these convicts had been wrongfully released, two in June this year and two in 2024.
On Monday, government sources said one of the men had been taken back into custody.
But in a sign of the behind-the-scenes crisis at the prison estate, it is understood he was never released by mistake and was mistaken for one among those who were released.
It is unclear whether the miscounted prisoner remains in custody or was released at the correct time.
