The Ministry of Justice confirmed that 37 prisoners in jail for breaching restraining orders were mistakenly freed after their offences were logged under outdated legislation.
Five of the prisoners have not yet been returned to jail, but the other 32 were taken back into custody.
The department said that the prisoners were incorrectly charged and convicted under old legislation – the Protection from Harassment Act 1997 – when they should have been charged under the Sentencing Act 2020. This meant that their sentences were not identified as rendering them ineligible for the early release scheme, which they should have been.
The prisoners will each serve the remainder of their custodial sentence, and guidance has been issued to staff to ensure that all future releases are correct, the Ministry of Justice confirmed.
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