Multiple mistaken prisoner releases could actually be an “opportunity” for David Lammy, Harriet Harman has said.
Speaking to Sky News’ Electoral Dysfunction podcast with political editor Beth Rigby, the Labour peer said the release errors are a chance for the justice secretary to “roll up his sleeves” and sort out his department.
It emerged on Wednesday that two prisoners were wrongly freed from HMP Wandsworth last week. It follows the high-profile release of migrant sex offender Hadush Kebatu from HMP Chelmsford.
Baroness Harman said this has “shone a spotlight on a systemic problem which needs to be sorted out”.
Rather than become a “ding dong” between Labour and the Tories, she said: “I think ironically it’s a bit of an opportunity for him [Lammy] to actually be able to roll up his sleeves and insist the department gets the resources and the focus it needs to sort out this problem, which is not a new problem.”
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She added that figures showing 262 prisoners were mistakenly released in the 12 months to March 2025 is “five a week, more or less being let out early” and “we don’t even know that is the full extent”.
Mr Lammy, who is also the deputy prime minister, is under fire over his handling of the saga.
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He stood in for Sir Keir Starmer at PMQs on Wednesday when he refused to answer whether any more asylum seekers had been wrongly released since Kebatu, an Ethiopian national, who was later deported.
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As PMQs was ending, the story broke that Algerian sex offender Brahim Kaddour-Cherif had been released in error. It has since emerged that Mr Lammy was made aware of this overnight on Tuesday.
He has defended not revealing that he knew about the incident, saying he did not have the full details and did not want to mislead the public.
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Mr Lammy is also being criticised as following Kebatu’s mistaken release, he promised on 27 October that stronger prison checks would be introduced immediately.
But Kaddour-Cherif was released in error two days later, on 29 October, while another prisoner, William “Billy” Smith, was mistakenly released on Monday.
Smith handed himself in on Thursday, while Kaddour-Cherif is still on the run.
