Good or Bad news? Jail bosses free 500 prisoners by mistake in England

A total of 505 criminals, including at least one murderer, sexual offenders and several other violent urchins, have been put back on the streets at the rate of nearly one every week.

Figures have emerged which put the number of erroneous release of prisoners in the UK to a ridiculous 505 over the past 10 years! A total of 505 criminals, including at least one murderer, sexual offenders and other violent lags, have been put back on the streets by mistake over the past 10 years, say figures obtained using under-threat Freedom of Information laws.

Tory MP Philip Davies, a member of the Commons Justice Committee, said: “These disturbing figures show that once a week the Prison Service releases the wrong prisoner and has done so for many years.

“This is a shambles which puts the public unnecessarily at risk,” he said.

Errors in 2014/15 resulted in 41 people being wrongly released from prison in England and Wales and seven from court custody – only one fewer than the 49 the previous year.

Just under a quarter in the two years were serving sentences for, or charged with, robbery or violent offences including assault and battery.

In July 2014, a prisoner was freed from HMP Hewell in Worcestershire after being mixed up with an inmate with the same surname. He was however thrown back in a day later.

In contrast, two inmates wrongly freed in 2014/15 had not been returned to custody as of the end of last month – including an alleged sex offender.

Philip Davies, Conservative MP for Shipley has also voiced his concern at the state of Prison operations, saying that more needs to be done.

And for 2013/14, David Cameron’s local prison, HMP Bullingdon, Oxon, was where the worst errors occurred with about 10 incidents of wrong releases.

The problem peaked at 68 cases in England and Wales in 2009/10.

A Prison Service spokesman has however tried to combat the opinion that they are takingbthier jobs with levity, saying:

 “These incidents are very rare but we are not complacent. The number of releases in error has fallen by almost a third since 2009 and the vast majority are returned to custody very quickly.”

Perhaps most baffling of all, murderer Martynas Kupstys was released from high-security HMP Lincoln by mistake as he waited to be taken to his trial.

The 25-year-old told officers he was due in court as they handed him his clothes and belongings – but they said he had to leave. A frantic hunt ensued and confused Kupstys, who sat outside at a bus stop, was found after three hours. The blunder in August 2014 led to the collapse of his trial.

At his retrial, he said: “I was told everything was in order and I was being released.”

Kupstys was eventually jailed for life for the murder of Ivans Zdanovics, 24, in Gainsborough, Lincs, in January 2014.

To the lucky 500 prisoners, its Good news... To the Jail bosses is Bad news.... What about to you??? Good or Bad news?

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