Dozens of prisoners have been released by mistake as violence in jails surged to a new high, official figures reveal.
Seventy-one convicted criminals or suspects were mistakenly freed in 2016/17 - a rise of seven on the previous year and the highest number since current records started a decade ago.
It means inmates were let out because of blunders at a rate of more than one a week.
A raft of statistics released on Thursday by the Ministry of Justice also revealed violence across the prisons estate in England and Wales has surged to a new high.
There were 26,643 assaults in the year to March, including a record 7,159 attacks on staff - equivalent to 20 every day.
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