The government has announced closer monitoring of prisoners than ever before. It will introduce biometric identity checks and make wider use of body-worn video cameras.
Ministers set out the measures in response to a report by Dame Lynne Owens, published on 15 April. Her report detailed a catalogue of errors behind the wrongful release of Hadush Kebatu from HMP Chelmsford in October 2025. The government said it accepted all 33 of her recommendations.
Biometrics and cameras
Responding to one recommendation, the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) announced biometric checks for all prisoners for the first time. These will include fingerprints and facial scans. They will verify identities at key points in the system, including release from custody. The plan builds on existing uses in policing, the MoJ said. The first phase of Justice ID will roll out this year.
“Central to the reforms will be the creation of a new Justice ID system – a single digital identity for every person who enters the prison system, tracking individuals seamlessly from arrest, through the courts, into custody and back into the community,” the MoJ said.
According to the department, Justice ID will replace an outdated system that allows offenders to use multiple aliases. That has led to confusion, human error and offenders going free when they should stay in prison. Staff across the system will gain access to reliable, up-to-date information on any individual.
The MoJ also said it would extend mandatory body-worn cameras. They will cover all uniformed prison personnel working with prisoners and in the discharge process.
Dame Lynne went further in another recommendation. She called for all of the thousands of CCTV cameras in prisons to record sound as well as images. The government accepted this but set no timeframe for it.
How the release happened
Mr Kebatu, an Ethiopian asylum seeker, had convictions for sexual assaults on a 14-year-old girl and a woman. The offences took place outside a hotel in Epping, Essex. The case had prompted public demonstrations and newspaper headlines. After sentencing he went to prison, with deportation scheduled to follow.
He was due to move to an immigration removal centre. That day, he arrived at the waiting area in HMP Chelmsford. There he received his possessions and an order to leave the prison. He was to go to the station and travel to a probation office in Harlow.
Mr Kebatu told officers he felt confused, but they insisted that he leave. He came back once more to query it, and an officer from OMU went down to see him. Again he received instructions to catch a train. He did so and disappeared.
His absence caused public concern, and his victims felt distress that he was at large. Police picked him up three days later, before his deportation.
Dame Lynne is a former Deputy Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police. Her report set out in detail the chaotic paper trail behind the failure. She blamed the complexity of the rules on release, and human error. Officers, she said, struggle with the acronyms used in the system. Constantly changing early release practices also confused them.
Two staff at HMP Chelmsford faced internal disciplinary action over the mistakes, her report revealed. Dame Lynne expressed frustration that the Prison Service would not confirm their ranks or what they had allegedly done wrong. She noted that a police force would do so.
Immediately after the incident, Justice Secretary David Lammy brought in a double-check system for releases. A senior manager must now verify those leaving, and AI helps to ensure all paperwork is correct. He has now added biometrics.
Mr Lammy’s statement put the number of wrongful releases in the year to March 2026 at 179. That was the second-highest annual total on record, but a fall from 262 over the same period a year earlier.
Victims Commissioner Claire Waxman said the report also exposes how victims of wrongly released offenders are not kept informed. Hearing from the news that the person who harmed them is free by mistake causes them distress.
HMP & YOI Chelmsford is a category B reception prison for men in the East of England.
