David Lammy responds as damning report reveals almost 200 prisoners were mistakenly released in one year

Georgia Pearce
Wed, 15 Apr 2026 16:19:12 +0000

David Lammy has responded to a damning new report which has revealed almost 200 prisoners were accidentally released in the space of one year.

Addressing the review, the Deputy Prime Minister vowed to accept "all 33 recommendations" outlined by author Dame Lynne Owens.

Mr Lammy said: "We asked Dame Lynne Owens to look at this carefully. She has provided a 200-page report, 33 recommendations, and I'm accepting all of those recommendations.

"And the thrust is that we have to move to a digital system. We will move to a biometric system so we can follow every prisoner from police contact through the criminal justice system.

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"And of course, we will invest in moving from this paper based system where errors are being made, often by junior staff, to a digitally based system over the next few years."

Dame Lynne's review identified staffing reductions, insufficient prison capacity, and severe underinvestment in digital infrastructure as the primary factors driving the system to crisis point.

Published today, the report concluded that such mistakes represent merely one symptom of a fundamentally broken system inherited by the current Government.

In light of the report, Mr Lammy addressed Parliament with a commitment to reduce prison release errors to near-zero levels, announcing funding of up to £82million to address the problem.

The investment targets a surge in mistakes that emerged as the prison system approached breaking point under the previous administration.

Mr Lammy framed the announcement as part of broader efforts to repair what the government describes as a fractured justice system, with the dual aims of fixing fundamental problems and rebuilding trust among the public.

The funding represents the latest step in the Government's programme to address systemic failures within the criminal justice infrastructure.

At the heart of these reforms lies a new Justice ID system, which will establish a unified digital identity for each individual entering the prison estate.

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This technology will monitor offenders continuously from their initial arrest, through court proceedings, during incarceration, and upon their return to society.

Biometric verification methods, including fingerprint scanning and facial recognition, will be deployed at critical stages throughout the system for the first time.

Initial implementation of Justice ID is scheduled to begin this year, expanding upon existing police biometric practices.

The most high profile prisoner to be released by mistake was the Ethiopian illegal migrant Hadush Kebatu, the man who entered the UK in a small boat at the end of June last year, and within a week of arriving here in sexually assaulted a 14-year-old girl and a grown woman near the Bell Hotel in Epping, where he was a resident.

He was subsequently tried, found guilty and sent to prison. But just a few months later, the prison authorities mistakenly released him from HMP Chelmsford, because of a mistake that was made.

Reacting to the report, GB News host Martin Daubney despaired at the "incredibly disturbing" figures.

He said: "When you look at the numbers, there is no denying, you cannot hide away from the fact this is getting much, much worse under the Labour Government.

"When you go back to 2020, 50 released accidentally per annum - 46 in 2021, 54 in Covid lockdown of 2022, and then it gradually climbs in 2024 to 262, the highest on record.

"A 128 per cent increase year on year in 2025. Something is particularly wrong right here, right now. Will David Lammy blame the Conservatives once again, or will they actually take this as their own error happening on their own watch?"