Justice ministry aims to modernize release system with AI after chaos
Artificial intelligence chatbots could be employed to prevent the erroneous release of prisoners from jail, a justice minister stated to the House of Lords on Monday.
James Timpson mentioned that HMP Wandsworth received authorization to use AI after a specialized team was dispatched to find “some quick fixes.”
A double manhunt was initiated last week following the incorrect release of a sex offender and a fraudster from the prison in southwest London.
Errors in releases over the past two weeks have been highlighted by opposition MPs as evidence of ministers’ helplessness amid chaos within the criminal justice system.
David Lammy, the justice secretary, is expected to address parliament regarding the number of missing prisoners when MPs reconvene on Tuesday.
It is believed that AI could be utilized to read and process paper documents; aid staff in cross-referencing names to ensure that inmates are not concealing past crimes with aliases; merge various datasets; and compute release dates and sentences.
Currently, many of these tasks are being performed by inexperienced staff using calculators and large amounts of paper.
In response to questions in the upper chamber on Monday, Lord Timpson stated: “The number of releases per prison varies significantly. In HMP Gartree, they average two releases a year, whereas … in Wandsworth it is 2,000.
“But that is why the digital team went into HMP Wandsworth last week to explore opportunities for quick fixes to adopt digital technology.
“We had the AI team visit, and to give you a couple of examples, they believe an AI chatbot would be very helpful, along with cross-referencing for aliases, since we know some offenders have more than 20 aliases.”
He added: “We’ve given the team the green light to proceed with that.”
Brahim Kaddour-Cherif, 24, was mistakenly released on 29 October before being apprehended on Friday following a police search.
He was serving a sentence for trespass with intent to steal but had previously been convicted of indecent exposure.
He is believed to have overstayed his visitor’s visa to the UK after arriving in 2019 and was in the process of being deported.
Another prisoner, Billy Smith, 35, who was accidentally released from Wandsworth on Monday after being sentenced to 45 months for fraud offenses, turned himself back in on Thursday.
The accidental releases of the two men intensified pressure on Lammy, who days earlier had announced a new checklist for prison staff following the incorrect release of the sex offender Hadush Kebatu on 24 October.
Kebatu, who had come to the UK in a small boat, caused disturbances in Epping, Essex, after sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl and a woman. He was wrongly released from Chelmsford prison and attempted to return to prison at least four times. He was eventually captured in Finsbury Park, north London, and given money as he was deported to Ethiopia.
In the 12 months leading up to March this year, 262 prisoners were released in error, a 128% increase from 115 the previous year, according to government data. The vast majority (233) occurred in prisons, while the remaining 29 happened in courts.
According to unions and governors, there has been a recent rise in errors due to complex early release schemes and a paper-based system, causing many documents to be lost between prisons, courts, and the Ministry of Justice.
The chief inspector of prisons has stated that the recent spate of premature prisoner releases is “a symptom of a system that is close to breaking point.”
Writing in the Telegraph on Sunday, Charlie Taylor said the growing number of mistaken early releases was “embarrassing and potentially dangerous.”
Over the weekend, it was reported that four offenders remained at large after being released in error, with two released in June this year and two in 2024.
On Monday, government sources suggested that one of these individuals had been returned to custody.
However, as an indication of the crisis behind the scenes within the custodial estate, it is understood that he had never been released in error and was mistakenly counted among those who had been.
The prime minister’s official spokesperson stated: “These cases reflect the nature and scale of the prison crisis inherited by this government.
“We have been clear that there is no overnight solution. That’s why we’re building 14,000 more prison places and sending in tech experts to modernize the system and provide immediate support to staff.”
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