Reported by: Ijeoma G | Edited by: Henry Owen
In a development that has sparked concern across the United Kingdom, the government has confirmed that ninety-one inmates were mistakenly released from prisons between April and October 2025. The disclosure came through a new government report, officially acknowledged by the UK Justice Secretary, David Lammy, who described the situation as a serious administrative lapse that raises fresh doubts about the effectiveness of the country’s prison management system.
The report shows that the mistaken releases occurred over a seven-month period, pointing to systemic weaknesses in the tracking, documentation, and coordination processes within the correctional service. Public reaction has been swift, with calls for an urgent overhaul of prison administration and tighter accountability measures.
This revelation adds to a series of similar incidents in recent years. In the year ending March 2024, eighty-seven prisoners were released in error, setting a record high for that period. The following year, the number rose to one hundred and fifteen, suggesting that measures introduced to prevent such mistakes had failed to produce meaningful results. By March 2025, the figure had surged to two hundred and sixty-two, representing a one hundred and twenty-eight percent increase from the previous year.
The latest figure of ninety-one mistaken releases within seven months indicates that errors continue at an average rate of nearly three per week, despite repeated government assurances of reform. Over the past decade, more than two thousand prisoners have been mistakenly released, escaped, or absconded between 2012 and 2023, underscoring that this problem is neither new nor isolated.
Observers warn that these repeated administrative errors compromise public safety, damage trust in the justice system, and impose additional burdens on law enforcement tasked with re-arresting the wrongly released inmates. Justice Secretary David Lammy has promised a comprehensive review of release protocols to prevent future incidents, amid increasing pressure for structural reform, digital modernization, and greater oversight within the UK’s prison service.
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