A specialist team at HMP Wandsworth will use AI (Artificial Intelligence) to find ‘some quick fixes’ after a spate of mistaken early releases at the prison. 

It is understood that AI could be used to read and process paper documents; help staff cross-reference names to ensure that prisoners are no longer hiding their past offences behind aliases; merge different datasets; and calculate release dates and sentences. Currently, many of these jobs are being completed manually by inexperienced staff.

In the 12 months to March 2025, 262 prisoners were released in error – a 128% increase from 115 the previous year. According to unions and governors, there has been a recent increase in errors because of complicated early release schemes and a paper-based system, which means many documents are lost between prisons, courts and the Ministry of Justice.

Charlie Taylor, HM Chief Inspector of Prisons has said that the recent, multiple early release errors are ‘a symptom of a system that is close to breaking point”.

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