Mistaken release of Epping sex offender shows the prison system is broken - Jayne Dowle
Justice Secretary David Lammy has reacted swiftly to the unbelievable blunder of HMP Chelmsford mistakenly releasing asylum seeker Hadush Kebatu, but the debacle will not be easily forgotten, especially by victims of sexual and violent crimes and their families.
How many spent last weekend in a state of anxiety, thinking that if such a calamitous error could happen at HMP Chelmsford, and with a prisoner whose name had been all over the news, it could happen anywhere?
Kebatu, who had been jailed for sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl in Epping this summer, was allowed out of prison last Friday instead of being sent for deportation.
He was at large for two days, caught on CCTV in Chelmsford town centre, then boarding a train for London. That he was spotted by a member of the public early Sunday morning in Finsbury Park, north London, and detained by police is a relief, but witnessing the whole story play out in real time has given us an insight into the chaotic and highly-concerning business of prison release.
This becomes even more poignant when we know that prisons are overcrowded and that across the country, prisoners are being considered for early release to free up cells.
In September 2024, the new Labour government introduced the SDS 40 early release scheme. Thousands of prisoners have now been freed 40 per cent of the way through their sentences rather than at 50 per cent.
This early release scheme works alongside other moves, such as convicts being freed with electronic tags, or spending less time behind bars when recalled for reoffending or breaching their licence.
Despite government assurances that those serving time for sexual violence, manslaughter and murder will not be liberated before their sentences are up, clearly this cannot be guaranteed, because the system is riddled with flaws.
According to government statistics published in July, 262 prisoners were released in error in the 12 months to March 2025 - a 128 per cent increase from 115 the previous year. Research by Sky News found that 233 of these incidents occurred from prison establishments, while 29 were released in error at the courts.
Against a total prison population across England and Wales of roughly 86,000, this number, whilst lamentable, might seem mercifully small. But not to victims of crime, living in fear that their erroneously freed perpetrator could come straight back and find them. Or go on to commit more crimes against others.
It does happen. William Fernandez, awaiting trial for sexual assault, was released from HMP Wormwood Scrubs by error in March 2021. He then went on to rape a 16-year-old girl and sexually assault a young woman.
In December 2019, the prisons and probation service "apologised unreservedly" after serial rapist Joseph McCann was freed to commit a series of eight sex attacks on women and children, including a young brother and sister in their own home, during a fortnight-long rampage.
Lives ruined. Futures blighted. It’s beyond tragedy.
Kebatu, an Ethiopian national, was one month into a 12-month prison sentence. Surely prison officers, aware of the high profile of the offender, whose arrest had sparked protests outside The Bell Hotel in Epping, where he was billeted with more than 100 fellow asylum seekers, should have prioritised following protocol to the letter.
How could Kebatu have found himself outside the prison gates, apparently, according to eyewitnesses, wandering around for up to 90 minutes asking what he should do and where he should go?
Lammy’s actions have been decisive – ‘knee-jerk’ some prison service critics say. All prisons have been issued with a new three-page mandatory list of as many as 30 checks that governors must oversee before any prisoner can be released. Prison staff will also be required to check all warrants, including for deportation orders, are in order, ensure staff who oversee releases are properly trained and of an appropriate grade, and conduct checks with other agencies.
Lammy has also warned prisons that they must identify ‘high-profile’ prisoners approaching release, and governors need to consult a new special support unit in the Ministry of Justice before they are freed or deported.
However, as John Podmore, a former governor of London HMPs Belmarsh, Brixton and Swaleside on the Isle of Sheppey in Essex, told reporters, the sharp increase in “releases in error” – the official description for such mistakes – is evidence of a broken system, “a wider systemic problem in leadership and management and it goes to the top.”