Hundreds Of Prisoners Released 'By Mistake'

Prison bosses have released more than 500 inmates by mistake over the last decade - including murderers and violent offenders.

Statistics released by the Ministry of Justice following a Freedom of Information request show 505 suspected or convicted criminals were freed in England and Wales - a rate of just under one every week.
One blunder saw murderer Martynas Kupstys let out of HMP Lincoln while on remand in August 2014. He waited at a bus stop near the jail for three hours before he was found and put back behind bars.

Martynas Kupstys

Kupstys was later jailed after he was convicted of the murder of Ivans Zdanovics, 24, who died in a house fire in January 2014.
The figures show 41 people were wrongly released from jail and seven from court custody in 2014/15.

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That was one fewer than the 49 mistakenly freed in the previous year.
Just under a quarter of all those wrongly freed in the two years were serving sentences or charged with robbery or violent offences including assault and battery.
One inmate was being held on a firearms charge and another was suspected of possessing an explosive substance.
Two of those freed in error in 2014/15 had not been returned to custody as of the end of last month, including an alleged sex offender released from court.
Six of those incorrectly released in the previous year had not been brought back to custody as of September.
Tory MP Philip Davies, a member of the Commons justice committee, said: "The first duty of the Prison Service should be protection of the public.
"These disturbing figures show that once a week the Prison Service release the wrong prisoner, and have done so for many years.
"This is nothing more than a shambles which puts the public unnecessarily at risk."
Lucy Hastings, director of charity Victim Support, said victims will be "alarmed and frustrated".
She said: "We know it can be distressing and worrying when offenders are released from custody - releases made in error can make this many times worse."
A Prison Service spokesman said: "Public protection is our top priority. These incidents are very rare but we are not complacent.
"The number of releases in error have fallen by almost a third since 2009 and the vast majority are returned to custody very quickly.
"The Prison Service investigates each incident and they are reported to the police for further action."