MoJ press office statement on mistaken prison releases

An MoJ spokesperson this evening issued the following statement:

“The crisis in the prison system this government inherited is such that basic information about individual cases can take unacceptably long to reach Ministers.

“On entering the House, facts were still emerging about the case and the DPM had not been accurately informed of key details including the offender's immigration status. No media story about the individual case was yet in the public domain and it was and remains subject to a live police investigation.

“The DPM was asked questions about the release of an asylum seeker. As was confirmed after PMQs by the Home Office, the individual was not an asylum seeker.

“The DPM waited until after PMQs and further facts had emerged before making a statement.”