Prisoners' Release
(asked on 10th December 2021) - View Source
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many convicted offenders were released in error from (a) courts and (b) prisons since 2010; what the reasons were for those releases; and what the convictions were for which a custodial sentence had been received for each of those released.
A prisoner is released in error if they are released earlier than their correct release date, they will be unlawfully at large until and unless they are subsequently released correctly or returned to custody. If the person so released is not aware of the error and makes no attempt to evade arrest, then they have committed no offence and, in that sense, they may not be at fault.
Releases in Error are monitored closely to analyse the frequency across the estate and identify any trends nationally, while taking into consideration the management of risk to the public.
There were 678 releases in error in total between April 2010 and March 2021 (these figures may include any remand prisoners released in error)
There were 581 releases in error from all prisons between April 2010 and March 2021.
There were 97 releases in error from courts (all escort areas) between April 2010 and March 2021.
Please see data below for year-on-year releases in error from (a) courts and (b) prisons since 2010.
2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | |
All prisons and escort areas | 68 | 63 | 42 | 44 | 50 | 49 | 64 | 72 | 66 | 64 | 50 | 46 |
All prisons | 62 | 55 | 40 | 36 | 43 | 42 | 50 | 59 | 56 | 55 | 41 | 42 |
All escort areas | 6 | 8 | 2 | 8 | 7 | 7 | 14 | 13 | 10 | 9 | 9 | 4 |
Please see data below for year-on-year releases in error by conviction between April 2012 and March 2021. (data only available from 2012)
| 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 |
Violence against the person | 3 | 2 | 4 | 9 | 6 | 5 | 9 | 13 | 5 | 2 |
Sexual offences | 2 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
Robbery | 4 | 6 | 1 | 4 | 7 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 5 | 1 |
Theft offences | 8 | 9 | 15 | 15 | 14 | 25 | 15 | 12 | 11 | 10 |
Criminal damage and arson | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
Drug offences | 7 | 10 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 8 | 7 | 3 | 3 | 7 |
Possession of weapons | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 3 |
Public order offences | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 3 |
Miscellaneous crimes against society | 5 | 1 | 6 | 5 | 7 | 6 | 4 | 10 | 6 | 4 |
Fraud offences | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
Summary non-motoring | 6 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 6 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 5 | 4 |
Summary motoring | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Offence not recorded | 1 | 4 | 14 | 1 | 8 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 9 | 9 |
Releases in error are predominantly caused by administration errors either by the courts or the prisons, releases in error from establishments could also be a result of errors by the court, if a prisoner was to manipulate his / her own release in error (for example by producing false documents) then this would be classified as an escape.