214 Inmates Awarded Compensation After Being Kept in Jail Too Long

Taxpayers have paid out almost £1 million in compensation to prisoners who were held beyond their legal release dates.

Figures from the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) reveal that over the past four years, £937,766 has been paid to 214 inmates who remained behind bars after they should have been freed.

The payouts followed legal action brought by the prisoners, who argued their continued detention breached Article 5 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), which protects the right to liberty.

Last year marked the highest total on record. Sixty-seven prisoners were unlawfully detained, with compensation reaching £288,218 — the largest annual sum so far.

The data comes after a series of high-profile cases involving prisoners mistakenly released. Among them was Hadush Kebatu, a 41-year-old migrant sex offender, who was wrongly freed from HMP Chelmsford. He was later located in London following a police manhunt and deported to Ethiopia on October 28.

Separate government figures show that 262 prisoners were released in error between April 2024 and March 2025 — a 128 per cent rise compared with the previous year.

Compensation payments for unlawful detention can range from £250 to as much as £500,000, depending on the length and circumstances of the case. However, the overall cost to taxpayers is likely to be higher, as the figures do not include privately run prisons, where claims are dealt with independently.

An MoJ spokesperson said: "We take instances of unlawful detention extremely seriously and will always act swiftly to correct errors."

GV Hale