§ Mr. Arthur Lewisasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will give for the longest convenient stated period of time the numbers of patients(a)who have been released from Broadmoor and(b)who have escaped from Broadmoor; and if he will list the further offences committed by those in either category.
§ Mr. Geoffrey FinsbergBetween January 1973 and September 1982, 743 patients were transferred from Broadmoor hospital to other hospitals in the National Health Service; a further 218 patients were discharged into the community. Two male patients escaped from within the hospital's security perimeter in 1981, one in July, the other in August. The last previous escape from within the male security perimeter occurred in October 1966. In the period since January 1973, two female patients have escaped from the hospital, one in October 1973 and the other in February 1974. In the same period, five male patients have absconded while they were outside the hospital, three while on escorted day trips, one while on leave and one from an outside working party.
While the majority of patients in the hospital have been admitted following the commission of offences, this is not 502W the case with all patients. The Department does not keep records of offences committed by former patients of special hospitals after they have left those hospitals.