Mistaken Releases Highlight Growing Issues in UK Prison System
Hadush Kebatu, a migrant sex offender, was released from prison by accident and has since been deported. This case is part of a wider problem, with 262 prisoners being released in error in the year to March, representing a 128% rise from 115 in the previous 12 months.
Justice Secretary David Lammy condemned the mistaken release of another prisoner, Brahim Kaddour-Cherif, and said officials were working through the night to return him to prison. Kaddour-Cherif is a 24-year-old Algerian offender who arrived legally but overstayed after his visa expired; he is not an asylum seeker.
In Commons questions, James Cartlidge pressed Lammy on the asylum-seeker status of the offender, but Lammy avoided direct answers, drawing criticism from opposition parties.
Officials acknowledge the justice system is failing to determine properly who should remain in prison, a problem involving the courts, prisons, the Prison Service, the Ministry of Justice, and the Home Office, and one that is growing. Recently, two prisoners were mistakenly released from Wandsworth Prison in the past week, contributing to concerns about release procedures.
The issue is framed within broader politics over migrants arriving on small boats, with Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood describing arrivals as shameful.
