Prison release errors worse on our watch, admits Nandy

A government minister has admitted that accidental prison releases have gone up under Labour, but insisted that they are “gripping” the crisis.

- MILLIE COOKE POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT

Ministers are facing mounting pressure over a series of high-profile manhunts, with justice secretary David Lammy admitting on Friday there is a “mountain to climb” to tackle the crisis in the prison system.

It comes after it was revealed on Saturday that two prisoners are still at large after being mistakenly released last year, and another two, who are understood to have been freed in error in June this year, also remain missing.

Asked if she knows how many prisoners are still on the run in total, culture secretary Lisa Nandy told the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg: “I haven’t had any discussions with the justice secretary about that this morning. What I can tell you is that under the last government, for quite some time, there were, on average, 17 wrong releases.

“Under this government that has risen. It’s 22. That is completely unacceptable. It was unacceptable before, it’s unacceptable now.”