Victims minister Alex Davies-Jones told Nick Ferrari at Breakfast that these recent incidents were "unacceptable"
Questions have been asked after it was revealed Algerian prisoner Brahim Kaddour-Cherif escaped HMP Wandsworth last week and had still not been caught.
This shocking blunder came a week after Epping sex offender Hadush Kebatu, 41, was released by mistake instead of being transferred to an immigration removal centre.
Amid a national fury over the two errors, victims minister Alex Davies-Jones told Nick Ferrari at Breakfast that these incidents were "unacceptable".
"It's more than embarrassing, I think that's actually undermining the issue at hand here, because any error and any prisoner released in error is unacceptable. And that is why we're getting to the bottom of this," she said.
Kaddour-Cherif, who was not an asylum seeker and entered the UK legally on a tourist visa in 2019, was accidentally released from the south-west London jail on Wednesday last week.
However, the Metropolitan Police was only informed at Tuesday lunchtime that he was missing.
Just hours after the Met appealed for information on Kaddour-Cherif, Surrey Police then confirmed a second Wandsworth inmate William Smith, 35, was also missing.
Smith was sentenced to 45 months for multiple fraud offences at Croydon Crown Court on Monday but was then released in error.
Police manhunts are underway to catch both criminals.
"The police have launched an active public appeal urging anyone with information to come forward," Ms Davies-Jones said.
"We as a government are working with the police and other agencies to establish and work forward on the investigation. And we are receiving regular updates."
Meanwhile, police chiefs say they are bracing for huge surges in crime if the Government goes ahead with plans to cut the number of prison sentences and release criminals early.
Bosses are expecting crime stats to rise by up to 6 per cent as a result of more offenders on the streets rather than behind bars.
Asked whether crime victims should be fearful of this announcement, Ms Davies-Jones said: "I want to tell victims that this government will always ensure that there is a prison place available for those who need it.
"And I want to tell victims directly that I will make sure that we have a criminal justice system that is fit for purpose so that we actually can arrest perpetrators and lock them up.
"We're investing in our probation service to ensure that we will be investing more in electronic monitoring, exclusion zones, working with the probation service and victims directly.
"Because what they tell me is, is that what they need is certainty and what they need is a criminal justice system that works for them."
