The shortage lasted several weeks and affected envelopes required for formal legal service, according to the Berliner Zeitung.

Alan Bauer, a spokesman for Berlin’s General Prosecutor’s Office, confirmed there had been a “kurzzeitigen Lieferengpass” (short-term supply bottleneck) in the envelopes used by the department responsible for enforcing sentences.

The problem followed a change to nationwide requirements for official service documents. New forms had been obtained in time for the August 1 2026 deadline, but the accompanying envelopes ran out after two weeks because demand was unexpectedly high.

Further supplies have since been obtained, although staff told the newspaper: “Aber das reicht immer noch nicht aus” [But that is still not enough].

The authorities said they had not recorded how many prisoners were affected.