LONDON, UK – The UK government has ordered urgent checks across prisons in England and Wales after a convicted sex offender was wrongly released from custody, triggering a two-day manhunt.
Justice Secretary David Lammy is expected to face questions in Parliament on Monday following the erroneous release of Hadush Kebatu, an Ethiopian migrant who was supposed to be deported rather than freed from HMP Chelmsford last Friday.
Kebatu, 35, was recaptured in north London’s Finsbury Park area on Sunday morning, two days after walking out of prison by mistake.
He will be deported “imminently,” according to a spokesperson for Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, who said the removal would likely happen within days.
The Justice Secretary has ordered governors to introduce new procedures aimed at preventing similar incidents, including additional verification checks before inmates are released.
However, the move has sparked disquiet among senior prison staff, who told the BBC the extra measures will add to an already overwhelming workload in a system they say is “struggling to cope.”
Rising number of mistaken releases
Figures show a sharp rise in wrongful releases — 262 prisoners were freed in error between April 2024 and March 2025, more than double the 115 recorded the previous year.
Charlie Taylor, HM Chief Inspector of Prisons, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that “something is going badly wrong” in the prison system.
He blamed high staff turnover and heavy caseloads, saying inexperienced officers were being stretched by a surge in inmate numbers and successive early-release schemes.
Political fallout
Downing Street described the incident as “completely unacceptable.” Sir Keir’s spokesperson blamed “chronic underinvestment” in the justice system under the former Conservative government.
Housing Secretary Steve Reed called Kebatu’s release “catastrophic,” insisting that staff must follow new instructions regardless of workload concerns.
“We will not tolerate convicted criminals being set loose by accident,” he told GB News.
Former Justice Secretary Alex Chalk, a Conservative, welcomed the inquiry but said the case reflected deeper structural failures.
“The entire annual budget of the Ministry of Justice is spent by the Department for Work and Pensions in two weeks,” he noted. “We must invest properly in recruiting and retaining skilled prison officers.”
The Liberal Democrat MP for Chelmsford, Marie Goldman, called for a national inquiry, while Reform UK leader Nigel Farage claimed the case illustrated the “disintegration” of Britain’s once-trusted institutions.
How Kebatu was released
Kebatu was sentenced last month for sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl and a woman in Epping, Essex, where he had been living in an asylum hotel after crossing the Channel in a small boat.
He was due to be transferred to an immigration detention centre ahead of deportation but was mistakenly informed by staff that he could leave.
One officer at HMP Chelmsford has been suspended, and an internal investigation is underway.
Health Secretary Wes Streeting said the Prison Service was under “enormous pressure” but added: “Even against that backdrop, it doesn’t excuse the release of people on our streets who have no business being there.”
The government has said the independent inquiry into the incident will report directly to the Justice Secretary.
