Prisoner Proinsias O’Doherty, aged 28, was recently released from HMP Wandsworth in the afternoon. He mentioned that inmates at the prison found it amusing when they learned that two prisoners had been mistakenly let out.
O’Doherty shared that he had completed a two-week recall for missing a probation appointment after serving a previous four-month sentence for carrying a bladed item. Acknowledging his history as a repeat offender with eight years of jail time across eight different prisons, he humorously described the reaction inside the prison upon hearing about the accidental releases of the two inmates.
Regarding the situation of wrongly released prisoners, O’Doherty attributed it to issues with the NOMIS system rather than the prison staff. He suggested reverting to a more reliable pen-and-paper system alongside digital methods to avoid such errors.
In a more serious tone, he advised Justice Secretary David Lammy to focus on creating a unified and efficient system for all prisons in England to locate prisoners easily. He also commented on the conditions at HMP Wandsworth, describing it as a decent facility where inmates are treated fairly but expressing concerns about the high number of recall prisoners.
Meanwhile, William ‘Billy’ Smith, who was mistakenly released from HMP Wandsworth, voluntarily returned to the prison premises after enjoying a brief moment outside with a laughing guard. Smith, 35, had been released in error just hours after receiving a 45-month sentence for fraud offenses. Amid some initial confusion, he surrendered himself back into custody.
The incident involving Smith occurred alongside another case where a sex offender named Brahim Kaddour Cherif was also mistakenly released, adding to a series of errors at the prison. Cherif, an Algerian national facing deportation, remains missing after being wrongly freed while serving a sentence for theft-related charges.
The Justice Minister has called for urgent improvements to the outdated record-keeping systems in prisons following these incidents, emphasizing the need for a more efficient digital solution. The Ministry of Justice has been alerted about the situation, with efforts underway to address the systemic challenges in managing prisoner records.
