Prisons release nearly 100 inmates by mistake.

Prison authorities have admitted to mistakenly releasing a record number of inmates last year, including sex offenders, violent criminals, and drug dealers. Most of the errors involved prisoners being released earlier than scheduled. However, in one alarming instance, the wrong individual was set free entirely.

Data from the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) revealed 87 cases of erroneous releases in the past year alone — the highest number on record. Over the last five years, a total of 308 inmates have been mistakenly released prematurely.

Among those cases, at least 41 inmates were serving sentences for violent crimes, seven were sex offenders, and 21 had been convicted of drug-related offences.

Retired Detective Chief Superintendent Kevin Moore expressed grave concern, stating: "This issue is becoming increasingly frequent. A single mistake is unfortunate; repeated mistakes indicate carelessness. Fail-safe systems must be implemented to prevent these errors. The public is being unnecessarily put at risk, and such incidents are entirely avoidable."

Most of the mistakes stem from administrative errors, particularly miscalculations of release dates. In other instances, confusion over inmates' names has led to the wrong individuals being released.

Notable cases include:

• In 2008, Terence Clegg, a prisoner on remand at Durham prison, was mistakenly released instead of his father, also named Terence Clegg, who was being held at the same facility.

• In 2005, a man wrongfully released from prison committed murder just hours later during a dispute on a London bus.

• In 2021, Lauras Matiusovas, a 31-year-old convicted blackmailer, was accidentally freed just two days into a four-year sentence at Pentonville Prison. He spent 10 days at liberty before being rearrested.

• Last year, guards at HMP Grendon in Buckinghamshire released the wrong inmate for a hospital visit after confusing two prisoners with the same name. The error was only noticed when the freed individual expressed confusion about the trip's purpose and was subsequently returned to the prison.

The MoJ has mandated immediate reporting and formal investigations for all "Release in Error" incidents since 2009. Measures such as enhanced reviews of sentence calculations by prison governors and custody managers were introduced to reduce errors, but the persistence of such mistakes highlights ongoing issues.

Moore added that these recurring failures undermine public confidence in the justice system and emphasised the urgent need for stricter oversight and improved administrative procedures.

The Johnson Partnership

Derby Crime Solicitors