Justice Secretary David Lammy previously stated the Government has a 'mountain to climb' to fix the problem
It emerged on Friday that four more inmates, who haven't been named, were on the run, as Justice Secretary David Lammy admitted the Government had a "mountain to climb" to address the problem.
Ministers were already facing mounting pressure after the double manhunt sparked by the separate releases of Algerian national Brahim Kaddour-Cherif, 24, and William Smith, 35, from HMP Wandsworth.
Kaddour-Cherif was arrested more than a week after he was wrongly freed from HMP Wandsworth in London.
The 24-year-old was detained on Friday after a police search following his release on October 29, which Scotland Yard said officers were only informed of on Tuesday.
Smith, 35, who had been sentenced to 45 months for multiple fraud offences, was also mistakenly released but handed himself back in on Thursday.
It was revealed over the weekend that the four other inmates released formed part of 262 in England and Wales who were wrongly freed in the year to March 2025.
Three are now understood to remain at large but one has been found and returned to prison, it was announced on Monday.
The Prime Minister's official spokesman told reporters: "The three remaining are subject to live police investigations.
"Obviously I'm limited in what I can say, but clearly we would urge anyone with any information to come forward to the police."
Justice Secretary David Lammy admitted on Friday there was a "mountain to climb" to tackle the crisis in the prisons system.
The scandal started last month after Epping migrant and sex offender Hadush Kebatu was wrongly freed from HMP Chelmsford, instead of being sent to an immigration detention centre to be deported.
He was located and arrested in London two days later.
Stronger security checks were announced for prisons and an independent investigation was launched into releases in error after the now-deported Ethiopian national was freed.
Some 262 inmates were mistakenly let out in the year to March 2025 – a 128% increase on the 115 in the previous 12 months, according to the latest Government figures. Of the total, 90 releases in error were of violent or sex offenders.
Kaddour-Cherif being said it was not his fault as footage emerged of him being arrested by Metropolitan Police officers in the Finsbury Park area of north London.
The video showed him initially standing by the passenger window of a police van before officers arrested him.
Wearing a grey hoodie, black beanie and black backpack, he denied that he was “Brahim” and, when asked if he knew him, said: "Everyone knows him, he’s in (the) news."
Police brought him to the back of the van and held up an image of Kaddour-Cherif next to his face before un-cuffing and re-cuffing his hands behind his back.
Before he was put in the back of the van, he turned to those gathered and said: "Look at the justice of the UK, they release people by mistake, after this they ‘ah ah ah’, it’s not my f****** fault."
