AT LEAST four prisoners mistakenly released from prisons in England and Wales remain at large.
They are among 262 prisoners wrongly released in the year to March, compared with 115 the previous year, the BBC reported.
The information has emerged amid pressure on the government following several high-profile mistaken releases.
On Friday, police arrested Algerian sex offender Brahim Kaddour-Cherif, who had been mistakenly released from HMP Wandsworth. He had been let out on 29 October, and police said they were informed on Tuesday.
William Smith, who was also released in error from the same prison in the same week, handed himself in on Thursday.
Their cases followed the mistaken release late last month of migrant sex offender Hadush Kebatu from HMP Chelmsford in Essex.
A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said: “The vast majority of offenders released by mistake are quickly brought back to prison, and we will do everything we can to work with the police to capture the few still in the community.”
Shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick said the unaccounted prisoners showed “the incompetence of this government”.
Jess Brown-Fuller of the Liberal Democrats said “every resource” must be used to find them, the BBC reported.
Justice Secretary David Lammy said: “We inherited a prison system in crisis and I'm appalled at the rate of releases in error this is causing,” adding that he has ordered “new tough release checks” and an independent investigation.
