§ Dr. Summerskillasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many convicted prisoners have escaped from (i) police and (ii) prison custody during 1980 and 1981.
§ Mr. Mayhew:The information in respect of escapes from police custody is not collected centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost. As to the escapes from prison custody, the information is not readily available in precisely the form requested, but figures for the total number of prisoners who escaped during 1980 and the first nine months of 1981 are given in the following table.
1980 1981 Closed establishments for adults or young prisoners 74 — 49 1 Open establishments for adults or young prisoners 385 88 263 31 Closed establishments for young offenders 105 — 79 — Open establishments for young offenders 1,095 53 728 5 Escapes from escorts and supervised working parties 108 5 135 2 The figures include absconding from open establishments and from supervised working parties.