"Any mistaken release of a prisoner is a blow to the criminal justice system and creates a danger to public safety and confidence. So is any escape, abscondment or failure to return after temporary release. Failures of this kind nevertheless occur every year in the UK penal systems not regularly, but often enough for governments to produce annual statistics about them. They are particularly alarming malfunctions in what is already a seriously flawed and pressurised system."
"The mistaken release of two separate prisoners from the same prison, however, is unusually disturbing. Human error seemingly played a part in allowing William Smith to walk out of HMP Wandsworth on Monday, the day he had been sentenced to 45 months for several fraud offences. That was bad enough. But the fact that he turned himself in on Thursday at the prison gates without being caught by a police manhunt simply compounds the record of official incompetence."
Any mistaken release of a prisoner is a blow to the criminal justice system and creates a danger to public safety and confidence. Escapes, abscondments and failures to return after temporary release occur yearly in the UK penal system and are recorded in government statistics. The mistaken release of two separate prisoners from the same prison is unusually disturbing. Human error apparently allowed William Smith to walk out of HMP Wandsworth the day he was sentenced to 45 months for fraud; he later surrendered without being apprehended. A sex offender, Brahim Kaddour-Cherif, was also mistakenly released and remained unaccounted for six days. Chronic underfunding has produced Victorian prisons, staffing shortfalls, poor management, probation cuts and overcrowding.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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