HC Deb 15 July 1992 vol 211 cc711-2W
Mr. Menzies Campbell

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many prisoners have escaped from(a) police custody and (b) penal institutions in the last 10 years for which information is available.

Lord James Douglas-Hamilton

The number of escapes from police custody is not held centrally.

The numbers of escapes and absconds from penal establishments over the last 10 years are as follows:

Absconds Escapes
1982 32 14
1983 38 16
1984 52 19

Absconds Escapes
1985 36 39
1986 43 7
1987 41 24
1988 75 30
1989 65 20
1990 88 27
1991 150 36
19921 54 19
1 to date

The definitions of escape and abscond are that a prisoner escapes if he unlawfully gains his liberty by overcoming the physical security restraints to which he is subject at the time he was in the presence of a prison officer or officers specially assigned to guard him: a prisoner absconds if he unlawfully gains his liberty by an abuse of trust without having had to overcome any physical security restraint and if he was not at the time in the presence of a prison officer specially assigned to guard him.

Forward to