In a string of unsettling developments, at least four prisoners mistakenly released from custody in England and Wales remain at large, according to multiple reports by the BBC and other outlets. This revelation has ignited a fierce debate over the state of the country’s prison system, the adequacy of government oversight, and the mounting pressures of overcrowding in correctional facilities.
The issue came to public attention after a series of high-profile incidents involving the erroneous release of inmates from several prisons, including HMP Wandsworth in south London and HMP Chelmsford in Essex. Two of these men, Algerian sex offender Brahim Kaddour-Cherif and convicted fraudster William Smith, were recaptured last week following intense police manhunts. However, the whereabouts of four other prisoners—two mistakenly freed last year and another two released in error in June 2025—remain unknown, as reported by the BBC.
The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) confirmed to the BBC that, in the year leading up to March 2025, a staggering 262 prisoners were released in error across England and Wales. This figure represents more than double the 115 mistaken releases recorded the previous year, marking a worrying trend that has drawn criticism from across the political spectrum.
Among the most notable cases is that of Brahim Kaddour-Cherif, an Algerian national who arrived in the UK on a visitor’s visa in 2019 and subsequently overstayed. Kaddour-Cherif was convicted of indecent exposure in November 2024, relating to an incident from March of that year. He received an 18-month community order and was placed on the sex offenders’ register for five years. In late October 2025, he was mistakenly released from HMP Wandsworth after being found not guilty of breaching the sex offenders’ register requirements. However, he was still facing other charges and should have remained in custody. Police were not informed of his release for several days, further compounding the error. Kaddour-Cherif was eventually apprehended by police on Friday, November 7, 2025, in the Finsbury Park area of north London—a mere three-minute walk from where another mistakenly released prisoner, Hadush Kebatu, had been recaptured less than a week earlier.
Kebatu, a migrant who arrived in the UK by small boat, had been jailed for sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl and a woman while residing in an asylum hotel. He was mistakenly released from HMP Chelmsford, later recaptured, and deported, according to the BBC.
William Smith, another high-profile case, was sentenced to 45 months for multiple fraud offences at Croydon Crown Court on Monday, November 3, 2025. Due to a clerical error—where a suspended sentence was incorrectly entered into the computer system instead of a custodial sentence—Smith was released from HMP Wandsworth. Although a correction was made, it was sent to the wrong recipient, allowing Smith to walk free. He handed himself back in at the prison on Thursday, November 6, 2025.
The surge in mistaken releases has been linked by many to the government’s emergency policies introduced to address chronic overcrowding in the prison system. With prison populations ballooning and only a handful of available spaces in male prisons last summer, the government implemented a scheme allowing some inmates to be released after serving just 40% of their fixed-term sentences, down from the usual 50%. According to the BBC, nearly 40,000 inmates have been released under this scheme to date. While designed to alleviate overcrowding, critics argue that these measures have inadvertently increased the risk of administrative errors leading to wrongful releases.
Justice Secretary David Lammy, who took office after the current government came to power in late 2024, has acknowledged the severity of the crisis. "I'm determined to grip this problem, but there is a mountain to climb which cannot be done overnight," Lammy told the BBC on Friday, November 7, 2025. "That is why I have ordered new tough release checks, commissioned an independent investigation into systemic failures, and begun overhauling archaic paper-based systems still used in some prisons." Lammy added that he was "appalled at the rate of releases in error this is causing," and emphasized the need for urgent reforms.
Not everyone is convinced by the government’s response. Shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick criticized the handling of the situation, calling it "the incompetence of this government." He added, "It shouldn't be left to reporters to uncover the facts. [Justice Secretary] David Lammy must finally come clean about how many prisoners have been accidentally released and how many are still at large." Jenrick’s remarks were echoed by Liberal Democrats spokeswoman Jess Brown-Fuller, who insisted that "every resource" must be deployed to locate the missing prisoners. She described the situation as "a disgrace and an omnishambles," telling the BBC, "It shouldn't have to take the media to inform the public that prisoners are at large after accidental release."
The MoJ has sought to reassure the public, stating that "the vast majority of offenders released by mistake are quickly brought back to prison, and we will do everything we can to work with the police to capture the few still in the community." Nevertheless, the lack of transparency regarding the identities and offences of the four prisoners still at large has fueled public anxiety and political scrutiny.
The crisis is unfolding against a backdrop of long-standing challenges in the UK prison system. The number of staff has not kept pace with the growing inmate population, resulting in mounting pressure on existing facilities and personnel. The government has pledged to build more prisons to address these issues, but such projects are expected to take years to complete. In the meantime, emergency measures and system overhauls are being rolled out in an effort to prevent further mistakes.
Complicating the picture further, the BBC reported that another prisoner, Ola Abimbola, is also at large after absconding from HMP Ford, an open prison in West Sussex, on October 10, 2025. Abimbola, who was serving a 21-year sentence for offences including kidnap and grievous bodily harm, was moved to open conditions in September. Sussex Police are actively searching for him, but officials stress that absconding from open prison is categorically different from mistaken release.
Data from the MoJ and HM Prison and Probation Service indicates that 57 prisoners absconded from prisons in England and Wales in the 12 months to March 2025—a notable decrease from 143 in 2020. The MoJ maintains that only a small number of offenders are eligible for transfer to open prisons, and anyone breaching the rules can be immediately returned to a closed facility.
As the government, opposition, and public grapple with the fallout from these mistaken releases, the urgency for systemic reform has never been clearer. The coming months will test whether the new measures and investigations can restore confidence in a prison system many now see as dangerously overstretched.
