Accidental Prison Releases

Lord Hayward Excerpts

Monday 10th November 2025 Lords Chamber

Asked by

[Lord Hayward]

To ask His Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of recent accidental prison releases.

[The Minister of State, Ministry of Justice (Lord Timpson) (Lab)]

My Lords, any release in error is one too many. Releases in error have been increasing for years and are another symptom of the justice system crisis inherited by this Government. The Ministry of Justice has already taken immediate steps, including introducing stronger release checks with more direct senior accountability, commissioning an independent review to tackle this issue, which has persisted for too long, and deploying a digital rapid response unit to all prisons to modernise release processes.

[Lord Hayward (Con)]

My Lords, for the absence of doubt, I am asking the Question in relation to Mr Brahim Kaddour-Cherif. Can the Minister please identify a timeline of, first, when officials were first notified of the accidental release of this gentleman, and, secondly, when the Secretary of State was first notified of his accidental release?

[Lord Timpson (Lab)]

Both the Deputy Prime Minister and me were informed first thing on Wednesday morning when we woke up. The Deputy Prime Minister quite rightly thought it was irresponsible to potentially give incorrect information to Parliament. The information was changing rapidly and the Deputy Prime Minister did not want to mislead Parliament without all the details.