A clerical error led to the accidental release of 37 prisoners from English and Welsh jails during a mass-release to prevent overcrowding.
According to the Ministry of Justice, five of those prisoners remain on the loose as of Wednesday amid a roundup to track them down.
The accidentally released prisoners were men charged with violating restraining orders, an offense that should have prevented their early release. However, the violations were incorrectly logged under legislation that has since been repealed, resulting in a failure to separate the 37 from the roughly 1,700 prisoners released on Sept. 10.
One of those 37, as reported by Sky News, "Is understood to have allegedly re-offended, charged with 'intentionally touching' a woman."
In the summer, justice secretary Shabana Mahmood said overcrowding was pushing jails to "the point of collapse." In response, inmates are temporarily required to serve just 40% of their sentences. Offenders charged with domestic abuse, terrorism, and sex crimes are supposed to be exempt from the sentence reduction, but the recent botch has raised concerns.
"Public safety is our first priority," a spokesperson for the Ministry of Justice told Sky News. "That is why we took decisive action to fix the broken prison system we inherited and keep the most dangerous offenders locked up."
Probation officers anticipate an overwhelming workload as the number of outgoing prisoners increases.
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