A record number of violent and sex offenders have escaped or violated the terms of their temporary release from prison, official data shows.
Some 321 violent or sex offenders either failed to return to prison after temporary release, returned late, or were in breach of their license conditions, police said. Ministry of Justice (Man. United) given.
That number is the highest ever, nearly double the 177 inmates four years ago and five times less than the low of 59 a decade ago in 2014-15.
The figures come ahead of Tuesday's House of Commons announcement David LammyJustice Minister after the wrongful release of two migrant sex offenders and a convicted British fraudster. Three other criminals remain on the run, months after being wrongly released from prison.
Robert Jenrick, the shadow justice secretary, demanded on Monday that Lammy publish full details of the number prisoners are accidentally released from 1 April 2025, how many are still at large and how many are violent or sexual offenders.
He warned he would demand Mr Lammy's resignation if the Deputy Prime Minister did not provide the data. For now, the Ministry of Justice has only released data for the year to the end of March 2025, showing the number of prisoners accidentally released rose to 262 from 115 the previous year.
Brahim Kaddour-Sherif, 24, was accidentally released from HMP Wandsworth before being caught on Friday – Sky News
“This is a matter of utmost seriousness,” Mr Jenrick said. “If you again refuse to provide this information, despite my numerous requests and my warning, the only remaining conclusion will be that you are incapable of telling the truth. In that case, you must give way to someone who will.”
Mr Lammy came under fire after he refused to return to the Commons on Wednesday afternoon to tell MPs details of the mistaken release by the Algerian parliament. Brahim Kaddour-Sherif24, from HMP Wandsworth. Earlier in the day, he refused five times to answer questions from Conservatives about whether the migrant had been wrongly released from prison.
On Monday, faced with the pressing issue of the prison release crisis, Prisons Minister Lord Timpson proposed using artificial intelligence chatbots to tackle random releases at HMP Wandsworth, where Kaddour Sherif and crook Billy Smith35 years old, were wrongly released. Both were returned to prison.
Billy Smith smiles for the cameras as he returns to HMP Wandsworth after his accidental release – ITV
Lord Timpson said a team of digital experts had been sent to prisons to advise on replacing the chaotic paper-based system of determining which prisoners were released when. HMP Wandsworth releases 2,000 prisoners a year, or 40 a week.
“That’s why the digital team traveled to HMP Wandsworth last week to explore how we can make rapid decisions on digital adoption,” Lord Timpson said.
“They think an AI chatbot would be very helpful, as well as cross-referencing aliases because we know that some offenders have over 20 aliases. So it's examples like this and we've given them, we've given the team the green light to deal with this.”
Robert Jenrick, the shadow justice secretary, has backed Lammy to demand his resignation – Ian Forsyth/Getty Images
It's not just accidental emissions that have increased sharply. Last week it was revealed that 36-year-old Nigerian Ola Abimbola Violent kidnapper sentenced to 21 years in prisonwas on the run from HMP Ford at Arundel in Sussex after being transferred early to an open prison under rules introduced by Labor to tackle overcrowding in safer “closed” prisons.
Ministry of Justice data analyzed by The Telegraph shows the number of sex offenders failing to comply with rules requiring them to return after temporary release, mostly from open prisons, has almost doubled from 47 to 90 in just two years.
The number of violent offenders not returning to prison or failing to comply with temporary release conditions has also doubled since the 2010s, when it averaged about 100 per year, to 260 in 2023-24 and 231 in 2024-25.
Lord Timpson blamed the crisis on the Tories, who failed to build enough prisons or maintain the ones they had, cut prison staff, including many with decades of experience, and failed to invest in digital technology that would be “much more efficient and accurate” in organizing releases than “hours of work with boxes of paperwork”.
A Prison Service spokesman said: “Escape from prison is a serious criminal offense and anyone accused of committing this offense could face a longer sentence behind bars.
“Prisoners undergo strict risk assessments before they are released on temporary release and 99 per cent of offenders comply with the rules – the number of cases of failure to receive temporary release has fallen by 12 per cent over the past year.
“Those who do not comply with the rules may face additional jail time.”
