Tuesday briefing: What the mistaken release of Hadush Kebatu reveals about a Prison Service in crisis

In today’s newsletter: Rising numbers of prisoners released by accident are laying bare systemic failings in England and Wales, from overworked staff to issues with probationGood morning. Maybe the most gobsmacking detail about the accidental release of Hadush Kebatu from HMP Chelmsford was this, from a delivery driver who was delivering equipment to the prison as he left: Kebatu, who was serving a sentence for sexual assault and was due to be deported, appeared baffled as he walked free, and lingered outside the gates for an hour and a half before heading away. “They [the officers] were basically sending him away, saying, ‘Go, you’ve been released, you go,’” the driver told Sky News. “He kept scratching his head and saying, ‘Where do I go, where do I go?’”On its face, that might look like incompetence. But the fiasco of Kebatu’s release may point to much bigger issues in the prison system. Yesterday, the justice secretary, David Lammy blamed “human error” – while the Prison Officers’ Association (POA) called the suspension of a single officer “unjust”.Climate crisis | Humanity has failed to limit global heating to 1.5C and must change course immediately, the secretary general of the UN has warned. In his only interview before next month’s Cop30 climate summit, António Guterres acknowledged it is now “inevitable” that humanity will overshoot the target.Reform UK | Nigel Farage has defended remarks made by a Reform MP who said seeing adverts full of black and Asian people “drives her mad”. The Reform UK leader said if he felt Sarah Pochin’s words were “deliberately and genuinely racist”, he would have “taken action” against her.Sudan | Fears grew for hundreds of thousands of civilians trapped in El Fasher after the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces said it had captured the city, which it has been besieging for more than a year in Sudan’s civil war.Hurrican Melissa | Jamaicans have started to take shelter from Hurricane Melissa as the category 5 storm neared the coast amid warnings of catastrophic flooding, landslides and extensive infrastructure damage. The slow-moving giant is set to make landfall early on Tuesday.Ministry of Defence | At least 49 family members and colleagues of Afghans affected by the MoD’s mass data breach have been killed, according to research submitted to a parliamentary committee. Continue reading...