Labour’s early release prison scheme was in crisis last night as it emerged domestic abusers have been freed by mistake.
Dozens of offenders convicted of breaching a restraining order have been wrongly let out of jail.
The Ministry of Justice is now striving to avoid more ineligible offenders being freed after the oversight emerged.
In all, 37 men were released in error. Most have now been recalled to jail but five were still on the loose last night.
Jails have been ordered to manually recalculate prisoners’ correct release dates after the shocking mix-up.
Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood introduced the early release scheme, known as SDS40, earlier this month to free space in the overcrowded jails.
An internal Ministry of Justice memo, seen by the Mail, said: ‘It is essential that prisons take action to identify any releases in error and prevent any future releases in error as a result of this issue.
‘Immediate action is needed to check all breach of restraining order sentences in custody and releases since SDS40 went live on September 10.’
The memo was sent on Wednesday last week and required jails to reassess all prisoners serving time for the offence, which is commonly imposed on domestic abusers, within two days.
The document said prisoners convicted of the offence may have been incorrectly sentenced under the Protection from Harassment Act 1997 instead of the Sentencing Act 2020.
Only those under the later legislation should have been eligible for early release.
The memo said the issue ‘could not have been foreseen or prevented by prisons’ and they would not face further action. Instead, a ministry team will carry out a ‘review of all cases caused by this issue’, it added.
Domestic Abuse Commissioner Nicole Jacobs voiced her opposition to SDS40 earlier this month.The watchdog said the scheme did not go far enough to protect victims from their abusers.
‘There is no justice in allowing perpetrators of domestic abuse to be released early,’ she said.
‘I have made it clear to Government that to safeguard victims, all offenders with a known history of domestic abuse must be exempt from this scheme.’
The commissioner declined to comment on the latest development last night.
There were sickening scenes of celebration outside jails as the first inmates were released on September 10, with some thanking Sir Keir Starmer and swearing to be ‘lifelong Labour voters’ as a result of the scheme.
Terrorists and sex offenders are exempt from the sentence discount, along with violent criminals serving more than four years’ imprisonment.
The Mail revealed earlier this month that a criminal had been charged with sexually assaulting a woman just an hour after being let out under the scheme.
The 31-year-old offender allegedly assaulted a woman while on the way from prison to a railway station, and then went on the run.
An MoJ spokesman said: ‘We are working with the police to urgently return a very small number of offenders to custody.
‘The convictions remain valid with offenders monitored since their release and will soon be back behind bars.’
He added: ‘Public safety is our first priority.
‘That is why we took decisive action to fix the broken prison system we inherited and keep the most dangerous offenders
locked up.
‘This included blocking the early release of domestic abuse offences such as stalking and controlling behaviour.’