An early release scheme to free prisoners and help jails cope with coronavirus has been paused after six inmates were released by mistake.
The low-risk offenders were candidates for early release but were let out too soon after an "administrative error", the Ministry of Justice said.
After the flaw was spotted, they all "returned compliantly to prison", a spokeswoman added. The Government early release scheme, designed to avoid thousands of often cell-sharing inmates becoming infected, was paused on Thursday and is due to resume next week.
Coronavirus cases have been confirmed in half of the prisons in England and Wales. Inmates were let out of two open Category D prisons in Gloucestershire and Derbyshire, Leyhill and Sudbury, along with
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