An inquest jury has found that the 'erroneous early release' of a prisoner from HMP Bristol contributed to his death three days later.
Father-of-three Jamie Andrews was released from the category B men’s prison on 1 December 2022, after spending 11 days in custody for theft, an inquest heard. The 49-year-old should not have been released because he was awaiting trial on other matters.
But a 'human error' by a prison administrator meant his remand warrant was not printed out and checked, the jury was told.
It was only after Andrews was released that the prison service discovered officers had wrongly calculated his release date and a police search was launched in Reading, Berks.
Andrews - who had been receiving treatment for drug addiction in prison - was found dead by members of the public, having consumed significant amounts of heroin and cocaine.
After a three-day inquest at Reading coroner’s court, a jury concluded: 'Jamie Andrews died of drug toxicity in combination with ischaemic heart disease on 4 December 2022 in Baker Street, Reading, three days after being erroneously released from HMP Bristol.
'Jamie Andrews died due to mixed drug related and natural causes. His erroneous early release contributed to the circumstances of his death.'
The inquest heard Andrews had been sentenced to three weeks in prison for theft, but he was also remanded in custody to await trial on charges of burglary, fraud and shoplifting on the same date.
Lee Ewing, who was acting head of offender management at HMP Bristol when Andrews was brought into custody on 21 November 2022, revealed a member of staff ‘did not print off the remand warrant’ and place it in a folder which was used to calculate Andrews’s release date.
A senior prison governor carried out an investigation into the root cause of the incident and found there were not adequate checks in place, Ewing said. The inquest heard the sentence calculation system had since changed.
The Ministry of Justice has been contacted for comment.
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