1,500 walk out of ‘holiday camp’ jails
NEARLY 1,500 crooks including murderers and rapists have vanished from open prisons since 2010.
In total, 1,475 offenders have slipped out of the “holiday camp” jails in the last eight years – often by simply failing to return after being allowed out to work.
Officials from the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) classify them as “absconders” as they did not have to overcome a physical restraint such as a wall, locks or handcuffs.
Among the tally in the last eight years are 73 inmates who were jailed for life after being convicted of murder, and ten men who were serving time for rape.
Figures from the MoJ show that 30 of the inmates who walked out have still not been recaptured and five of them have been illegally on the outside for five years or more.
Top of the list is Sudbury in Derbyshire from where convicted murderer Darren Jackson, inset, escaped in 2016. After the
53-year-old was recaptured by police a few days later it emerged that it was the second time he had managed to abscond from prison while serving a sentence for the brutal murder of 29-year-old Gill Evans.
Jackson, who was jailed for life, previously escaped in
1997 when he got out of medium-security Ranby Prison, in Nottingham. In November 2016, rapist Admi Headley, 34, walked out of Leyhill prison before being taken in by students who persuaded him to hand himself in.
The list also includes Standford Hill prison from where 58-yearold “Skullcracker” Michael Wheatley, pictured right, walked out in 2014 before carrying out a robbery.
There were also another 92 inmates who escaped in the last eight years after giving their escorts the slip while they were transporting them around the country. Also, 14 prisoners managed to escape from secure jails during the same time-period.
David Spencer, research director at the Centre for Crime Prevention, said: “These figures demonstrate all too clearly that an urgent rethink is needed on the use of open prisons.
“While there may be a case for placing well-behaved minor criminals in such places, there is simply no justification for serious offenders to be put there.
“The new figures will be terrifying for victims of crime, people living around these ‘open prisons’, and all innocent people who don’t like the idea of murderers and rapists being free to roam the streets before their time is served.”
A Ministry of Justice spokesman said: “Open prisons are intended to test an offender’s suitability for release before returning to the community. We carefully risk-assess all offenders before they move to open prisons, and the number of absconds has halved since 2011/12.
“But we are not complacent, and whenever an offender gives cause for concern they can be returned to tougher, closed prisons where they may have to serve additional time.”