ABSCONDER
Richard Shaw, from Bulwell, Nottingham,
went on the run from Sudbury Prison while serving
a four-year sentence for burglary but his absence
was not noticed until a week later.
The mistake came to light as a report praising
the jail was released by HM Inspectorate of
Prisons. The report states that an average of
seven inmates abscond from Sudbury each month,
and that this is within the establishment's
targets. They EXPECT this many prisoners to
escape? |
ON THE RUN
A total of 22 prisoners are on the run from
Sudbury Prison but they cannot be named or the
reason they were in prison revealed because the
Home Office and Derbyshire police are each
blaming the other for not making the information
public.
A Derbyshire police spokeswoman said, "It's
up to the Home Office to release the reasons why
prisoners were in Sudbury and to give you the
number who've gone missing this year."
While a spokesman for the Home Office insisted,
"As soon as a prisoner escapes from an open
prison, it is immediately a matter for the
police. We're not responsible for keeping
information on how many have been recaptured or,
indeed, what the ones that did escape had
done." (Source: Derby Evening Telegraph, Jun/06) |
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SUDBURY PRISON
 Sudbury prison has
been given £25,000 by the Home Office for its high
performance even though 665 inmates have escaped in the
past 10 years. The money was given after being awarded
high-performing status by the director general of the
prison service, Phil Wheatley. To celebrate the windfall,
Sudbury Prison paid company JD Parties to organise a
black tie party at Pride Park's Assa Suite. Guests were
treated to a champagne reception, followed by a
three-course meal and two hour-long sets by a band.
A Home Office spokesman, representing both the prison
service and the prison, said, "The director general
of the prison service commended HMP Sudbury in July, 2006
for outstanding work in 2005-6 and granted it
high-performing prison status. High-performing prisons
are given wide recognition for their service, and they
are given a sum of money to be spent as the prison sees
fit"
Before the party, one member of staff said, "There
are things that are needed in the prison that they can't
afford to pay for and yet they can afford to pay for
this." West Derbyshire MP Patrick McLoughlin, whose
constituency covers the prison, could not understand why
the prison was given the money. He said, "I think
that, given the level of absconding prisoners, it's very
hard to justify."
When making the award, Mr Wheatley said, "The
high-performing establishments... fully deserve this
recognition. They are delivering exceptional levels of
care and support for some of the most difficult and
vulnerable people in society, all the time looking to
further improve the way they work." (Source: Derby Evening Telegraph, Oct/06)
Figures released by the Home Office show
that five murderers were among the total of 56 prisoners
who had escaped from Sudbury Open Prison since April 2003
and between April, 2002, and April 2003, 67 prisoners
absconded, including two murderers. One of them is still
at large. The statistics have left local residents
fearful for their safety. Home Office minister Paul
Goggins released the figures following persistent
questioning by West Derbyshire MP Patrick McLoughlin, who
has been pressing the Government for the figures for the
past two months. The revelation will add to the pressure
on Sudbury Open Prison, which is already under fire for
the high number of inmates walking out. Since last April,
50 prisoners had walked out. A further six have since
absconded.
In 2002-3, two murderers and three GBH convicts were
among the 67 escaped prisoners. All but seven, including
the murderer, who has not been identified by the Home
Office because of "confidentiality", have been
recaptured. Tory Mr McLoughlin has called for a
high-profile public debate and is demanding to know why
prisoners convicted of major crimes are allowed to stay
in an institution with no perimeter walls. He said,
"Some people sentenced to very long periods in
prison, having committed serious offences, have obviously
just walked out. I would like to get that checked out,
and urgently." He will be putting further questions
to the Home Office in the next few days, demanding a full
breakdown of the convictions of all Sudbury's prisoners.
The prison has more than 500 inmates. As of
April 30, 2003, 76 were serving life sentences. A Sudbury
Open Prison spokeswoman said murderers, or those guilty
of GBH, could be admitted if their security status had
dropped to the lowest level - Category D. She said,
"All prisoners start off as Category A prisoners,
and their classifications change depending on things like
their behaviour and the courses they have been on. When
they get to Category D, they come to open prisons like
Sudbury. If they abscond and do not come back, or
disappear because of low levels of security, they get
reclassified and taken to other higher security prisons.
We would not get them back."
Sudbury Open Prison takes part in a
"resettlement" programme, which helps inmates
gradually reacclimatise to the outside world. This
includes over 100 men in the prison going out to work
every day and coming back to the prison in the evening.
Others have home visits for several days. The spokeswoman
said, "They wouldn't be going anywhere unless they'd
been risk-assessed."
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