Following Dame Lynne Owens’ Independent Review, the Justice Secretary has pledged £82 million to address the growing problem of prisoners released in error.

 How are prisoners released from prison?

HM Prison and Probation Service’s (HMPPS) Prison discharge policy sets out the rules and guidance that prison staff must follow when a prisoner is being discharged (released) from prison at the end of their sentence.

To ensure that it is “correct to discharge the prisoner”, prison staff are required to, among other things, check:

the prisoner’s identity by checking their name, date of birth, signature, photograph, tattoos and scars, and biometric data,

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, and

that there are no other reasons to keep a prisoner in custody.

How common are releases in error?

A prisoner is released in error if they are “released when they should otherwise have remained in HMPPS custody and the prisoner or a third party has not deliberately played a part in the error.”

In the year ending March 2026, 179 prisoners were released in error from prisons and courts in England and Wales.

This was a 31% decrease on the 262 prisoners who were released in error in the year ending March 2025. The number of prisoners who were released in error in the year ending March 2025 was the highest number on record and a 128% increase on those released in error in the year ending March 2024.

Data on the number of prisoners correctly released from prison in the year ending March 2026 has not yet been released. However, the number of prisoners released in error in the year ending March 2026 was equivalent to 0.31% of the 57,000 prisoners correctly released from prison in the year ending March 2025.

Some prisoners released in error have attracted public attention, including:

the release in error of Hadush Kebata in October 2025, an asylum seeker who was serving a 12-month prison sentence for sexual assault. He was apprehended by the police 48 hours later and was deported,

the release in error of Billy Smith in November 2025, who was serving a 45-month prison sentence for multiple fraud offences. He handed himself in to the police three days later and was returned to prison, and

the release in error of Brahim Kaddour-Cherif in November 2025, a sex offender who was in custody awaiting trial for burglary. He was apprehended by the police nine days later and was returned to prison.

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, releases in error increased significantly between 2022/23 and 2025/26.

is moving swiftly to strengthen training, support and oversight for frontline staff. But lasting progress will depend on whether prisons are given sufficient, experienced staff with the time, tools and confidence to calculate sentences accurately. New systems and simpler rules will help, but unless staffing pressures are resolved, the system will remain vulnerable to further errors in future.

The chair of the Prison Officers’ Association, Mark Fairhurst, has called the government’s response to Dame Lynne’s investigation “welcome, much needed reforms” but warned that “you’re never going to totally eradicate human error.”

The chief executive of the social justice charity Nacro, Enver Solomon, has said that while the government’s plan to upgrade technology in prisons was welcome, that further changes would also be needed:

There is no getting away from the fact that the prison system remains in a serious crisis so unless there are sustained improvements in not just technology but also training, ways of working and organisational culture, lasting change will not be possible and there will continue to be too many failures. Systemic reform must be a clear priority to prevent more releases in error.

The chief executive officer of the charity Victim Support, Katie Kempen, stated that Dame Lynne Owens’ independent review had highlighted how “flawed the system for calculating release dates is” and how “victims are left suffering the retraumatising effects of a criminal justice system on its knees.”

The general secretary of the Criminal Justice Workers Union, Mike Rolfe, has called the new prisoner 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”.

The Prison Governors’ Association has stated that the government needs 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.