*Three times per capita but it's still 91 of them against only 3 in similar areas
Professor John Robertson OBA
Yesterday, in the Guardian, the above and:
The justice secretary has revealed that 91 prisoners have been released by mistake in England and Wales since April, of whom as many four remain at large. David Lammy gave details in a Commons statement of three mistakenly released prisoners the police are trying to trace. He said the Prison Service was also investigating a fourth inmate released in error last Monday who may still be at large. The shadow justice secretary, Robert Jenrick, mocked Lammy for not knowing how many remain at large. “The justice secretary is so clueless, he’s literally lost track of how many prisoners he’s lost,” he told MPs.1
How many prisoners have been released in error in Scotland from April 2025?
Three and none are still on the run.2
So, per capita, THREE times as many released in error from English jails.
Sources:
- https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/nov/11/david-lammy-says-91-prisoners-freed-in-error-in-england-and-wales-since-april
- https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/dozens-prisoners-mistakenly-released-jails-36200782.amp
Why this difference?
Prison assaults were pro rata more than TWICE as common in England & Wales than in Scotland
Click on this for the details:
Finally and perhaps most important, the prisoner-to-prison officer ratio in England, is approximately 3.7:1 as of mid-2025:
https://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/publication/performance-tracker-2023/prisons
In Scotland, it’s 1.7:1, thus more than twice as well-staffed:
Talking-up Scotland 'Albatraz' 
Reluctantly, I have to give some praise to the hapless David Lammy. Yesterday in response to mendacious and hypocritical comment from the Tories he pointed out that the roots of the prison crisis lie in the Tories’ austerity policies, which led to large cuts in funding for the prison service which in turn led to a significant loss of staff, with many experienced prison officers taking early retirement or moving to other employment.
Recent recruits into the prison service in England and Wales lack experience and lack experienced colleagues to show them the ropes. A significant proportion do not have English as their first language.
The wrongful releases are largely down to this inexperience and lack of in house systems.
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if only the BBC was ‘on the run’ out of Scotland! Get out of our hair EngBBC!
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