Prisoner Escapes

(asked on 8th November 2016) - View Source

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prisoners have (a) escaped and (b) absconded from prison by crime class order in each year since 2010.


Answered by
Sam Gyimah Portrait
Sam Gyimah
This question was answered on 12th December 2016

NOMS takes public protection and escapes from prison extremely seriously. An immediate investigation, independent of the prison, is completed following any escape to determine what went wrong and to learn lessons for the future. The vast majority of those who escape are quickly re-captured by the police and charged and prosecuted.

KPI escapes1 from establishment by offence between 2011/12 to 2015/16 are published on gov.uk. The security category of the prison is also provided. Figures for 2010/11 are not published; there was one KPI escape from a Cat B establishment in 2010/11. The prisoner who escaped was serving a sentence for theft. All prisoners who escaped between 2010/11 and 2015/16 have been returned to custody following the incident.

Absconds take place only from open (Cat D) prisons. Absconds between 2011/12 and 2015/16 by the main offence of the prisoner at the time of the abscond are published on gov.uk. Figures for 2010/11 are not published and are provided below. Three prisoners who absconded from open prison in 2010/11 were still unlawfully at large on 30 April 2016; all other absconders have been returned to custody.

NOTE 1 An escape is deemed to be a KPI escape if (i) the prisoner is at liberty for 15 minutes or more before recapture or (ii) an offence is committed during an escape lasting less than 15 minutes.

Absconds by offence1

2010/11

ALL OFFENCES

235

Violence against the person

51

Sexual offences

2

Robbery

69

Theft offences

66

Criminal damage and arson

3

Drug offences

20

Possession of weapons

9

Public order offences

2

Miscellaneous crimes against society

5

Fraud offences

5

Summary non-motoring

2

Summary motoring

1

Offence not recorded

0

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