Police in London have launched a manhunt after two inmates, including a convicted sex offender, were mistakenly released from HMP Wandsworth last week, the latest in a series of accidental prisoner releases that have prompted an independent inquiry and renewed scrutiny of England and Wales’s prison system.
On October 29, two men were released in error from HMP Wandsworth in south-west London. One of the prisoners has been identified as Brahim Kaddour Cherif, 24, described in reports as an Algerian national with a sexual offence conviction; the other was named as William Smith, 35. The incidents at Wandsworth followed the mistaken release of Hadush Kebatu from HMP Chelmsford, adding to a significant rise in similar errors across the prison estate.
Official figures cited in reporting show that 262 prisoners were wrongly freed over the past year — more than double the number in the previous year — signalling a marked escalation in accidental releases. The scale and frequency of the mistakes have triggered alarm among police, community leaders and politicians, who say the errors pose a clear public safety risk and undermine confidence in the criminal justice system.
Prison sources and oversight bodies point to long‑standing pressures on the prison estate as contributing factors. Chronic overcrowding and under‑resourcing have been singled out as creating conditions in which procedural safeguards can fail, and authorities have acknowledged that operational failures require urgent attention. In response to the recent incidents, the government has said it is imposing what it described as the strongest release checks ever and has commissioned an independent investigation into the mistaken releases, to be led by Dame Lynne Owens.
The inquiry is expected to examine how the errors occurred, assess systemic weaknesses across prisons in England and Wales, and recommend changes to prevent further wrongful releases. Officials have not yet released a timetable for the investigation’s findings, and police operations to locate the men released from Wandsworth are ongoing. Law enforcement agencies have appealed to the public for assistance in locating the missing prisoner or prisoners while manhunts continue.
The series of errors has also become a point of political contention. At Prime Minister’s Questions and in other parliamentary exchanges, the Justice Secretary has faced scrutiny over the timing and content of disclosures related to the incidents. Critics argue that full and timely transparency is required to hold ministers accountable and to reassure the public, while others have defended emergency decision‑making that can limit early disclosure during active security operations. These competing perspectives reflect broader tensions between demands for government accountability and operational imperatives posed by public‑safety responses.
Beyond immediate searches and political debate, the crisis has revived longer‑running calls for structural reform of the prison service. Campaigners, victims’ advocates and some lawmakers say the pattern of accidental releases underscores the need for increased investment, staffing and overhaul of administrative procedures. Officials have acknowledged pressures on the system but have framed recent measures — strengthened release checks and the Owens‑led review — as the first steps toward preventing recurrence.
As investigations proceed, authorities are balancing parallel tasks: continuing criminal inquiries and manhunts, and conducting a systemic review designed to deliver longer‑term fixes. Police activity and public appeals remain active while the independent probe seeks to clarify root causes and potential remedies. The outcome of Dame Lynne Owens’s investigation, and what practical changes the government will implement in response, will determine whether the recent spike in accidental releases leads to durable reform of prison operations or further political and public concern about safety and governance in the justice system.