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Written question asked by Lord Garnier (Conservative) on Friday, 5 December 2008, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Tuesday, 9 December 2008. It was answered by Lord Hanson of Flint (Labour) on Thursday, 11 December 2008 on behalf of the Ministry of Justice.


Open Prisons: Prisoner Escapes

Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many absconds there were from open prisons in England and Wales in each of the last 24 months; and how many offences were committed by such offenders while unlawfully at large.
Answer

Levels of absconding have been falling steadily for some years now and are currently at their lowest levels since central recording of this data began in 1995. The following table shows the numbers of prisoners absconding from prisons in England and Wales in each of the last 24 months and numbers of further offences committed while unlawfully at large.

prisoners absconding from prisons in England and qales and number of further offences committed while unlawfully at large
Month Total prisoners absconding Further offences committed while unlawfully at large
December 2006 44 3
January 2007 31 3
February 2007 44 8
March 2007 51 7
April 2007 49 7
May 2007 41 5
June 2007 53 4
July 2007 35 9
August 2007 50 10
September 2007 42 10
October 2007 44 8
November 2007 50 5
December 2007 55 7
January 2008 26 2
February 2008 32 7
March 2008 37 6
April 2008 41
May 2008 28 1
June 2008 36 6
July 2008 18 1
August 2008 37 7
September 2008 31 1
October 2008 38
November 2008 31 2
Total 944 125

These figures have been drawn from live administrative data systems. Although care is taken when processing and analysing the returns, the detail collected is subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large scale recording system.Figures on absconds and a range of other prison performance statistics are also available at:"http://www.hmprisonservice.gov.uk/abouttheservice/prisonperformance/performancestatistics/"


Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
485 c300-1W; 242062
Session
2008-09
Related items
Open Prisons: Prisoner Escapes
Monday, 12 January 2009
Written questions
House of Commons
Subjects
Prisoner escapes Open prisons
Contains statistics
Yes
Link
View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk