§ Mr. RedmondTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what was the cost of searching for and recapturing the three prisoners who escaped from Parkhurst prison in January.
§ Mr. Michael ForsythResponsibility for this matter has been delegated to the Director General of the Prison Service, who has been asked to arrange for a reply to be given.
Letter from Derek Lewis to Mr. Martin Redmond, dated 15 February 1995:
The Home Secretary has asked me to reply to your recent Question about the cost of searching for and recapturing the three prisoners who escaped from Parkhurst prison in January.It is difficult to give a definitive answer to your Question as some costs have not yet been finally calculated. The estimated additional cost to the Prison Service of mounting the operation to recapture the escaped prisoners is about £25,000.The cost of the police operations from the beginning of the incident until Thursday 9 February was £252,000. It is not anticipated that this figure will increase substantially.