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WATCH: Police blasted over 'remarkable' release of Hadush Kebatu from prison
Oct 27, 2025
Britain's prisons are facing a major "competency crisis" following the accidental release of Epping hotel migrant Hadush Kebatu, it has been claimed.Speaking to GB News, journalist Jack Hadfield stated that "something is clearly terribly wrong" with the nation's prison system.FULL STORY HERE.
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0:00
Well, it was just quite frankly a remarkable story, wasn't it
0:04
You know, you had Hadash Kabartu wandering around London sort of in a very sort of Mr. Bean-ish way
0:11
It seems like, honestly, I don't think that he knew that there was this entire manhunt going out for him
0:16
He was wandering around in his grey tracksuit with an avocado bag, just doing what he was doing
0:22
And as we saw from the from eyewitness accounts of his arrest, he went pretty easily
0:30
Yeah. And we know this as well, that he was, in fact, trying to almost make sure he was deported back at HMP Chelmsford
0:40
That's certainly what reports were saying and that he knew he was going to be deported
0:46
And he was very, very confused. Jack, he knew. When they don't go to the train station. He knew, we knew, we all know why he was there and where he was going to
0:53
or where he was supposed to be going to. Why didn't the prison service know? What do you think has happened here that no-one seemed to be invested enough
1:01
in the people to know you a goodie you a baddie you due for a lease you not Well I just not sure but there is something clearly critically wrong with the prison service and their early release system
1:17
If you look at the number of accidental releases, from around the year 2004 until a few years ago
1:25
it was hovered at around 50 releases a year. And then from 2020, really from kind of when lockdown happened
1:32
you notice there was a bit of an increase in 2022, 2023, it was 81
1:36
The next year after that, it was around 150. And this year, the previous year to date, has been 282
1:44
So it's something over the last few years institutionally has changed so that we are getting so many more people accidentally released
1:52
I think we have a massive competency crisis within our prison system
1:57
and, frankly, within the state generally. Again, HMP Chelmsford also released earlier somebody from prison, a convicted fraudster
2:07
after they were just sent in a fake letter, supposedly from the Royal Courts of Justice
2:12
saying that this man should be released And they took it completely at face value which is insane to think So you know if I know somebody in prison who a murderer or whatever
2:22
I guess I could just type up on my laptop a letter that says, release my friend now, please
2:27
and the prison service will look at it and go, oh, OK, sounds reasonable, sounds sensible
2:32
So there are clearly not enough checks. There's something going wrong terribly in the system
2:37
And as I said, we still have no idea what it is yet, but hopefully this inquiry will figure out what it was
2:41
But, Jack, of course they would say that they're underpaid, they're overworked, that there simply aren't enough people working in these prisons, so things will inevitably go wrong
2:51
What do you make of this backlash, David Lammy ordering prison governors to carry out extra checks on every inmate that they release
2:58
They're saying that's going to take 45 minutes per prisoner. There simply isn't the capacity to do that
3:02
Yeah, I think that really is the question because there's often times
3:07
you know, everyone will say, say it's the NHS, for example, the problem will always be there's just not enough money
3:14
But sometimes there really is the competency crisis as well. That the thing We just cannot tell what is going on here But I am concerned for example about that there seems to be more of an uptick generally for example in the hiring of foreign nationals for the prison service
3:36
and the state in general. If you're wondering if people coming from overseas, perhaps they can't
3:41
speak English maybe as well, they can't necessarily be trained as properly. Perhaps that's one of the
3:46
reasons. And I do think understaffing would probably be a factor as well. But generally
3:51
if you look at how the state seems to have broken down over the last few years, not just the prison
3:57
service, there seem to be a lot of people in, say, social care, the NHS, the prison service
4:05
the border force, wherever it may be, who just can't seem to do their job properly. So I think
4:11
it would be a combination of both factors. I do think probably there is a lot of money that's
4:15
being wasted in the state generally that probably should be directed to hiring the right people for the job
4:23
And then also I am concerned that the people who are doing the job right now
4:27
are not them. So I certainly agree with both points. And well summed up, Jack
4:34
Well summarised
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