§ Ms LynneTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many prisoners are unlawfully at large having failed to return from authorised leave at each male category C prison. [30806]
§ Miss WiddecombeResponsibility 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 Richard Tilt to Ms Liz Lynne, dated 12 June 1996:
The Home Secretary has asked me to reply to your recent Question about the number of prisoners who are unlawfully at large having failed to return from authorised leave at each male category C prison.The information is not available in the form requested however, between 1 April 1995 and 31 March 1996, 271 prisoners failed to return to male category C prisons after being temporarily released on licence. In the same period, 1,458 prisoners who were unlawfully at large were recaptured or surrendered themselves.The figures are not directly comparable because those prisoners who were recaptured or who surrendered between 1 April 1995 and 31 March 1996 include those released during that period and before.150WThe 1,458 figure includes all prisoners who were unlawfully at large from any prison for any reason, including temporary release failures, absconds from open prisons and escapees.Also, recaptured prisoners sometimes use different names on return to custody and are often taken back into custody in a part of the country different from their destination when granted temporary release from prison.Following changes to the Prison Rules in April 1995, the new scheme for release on temporary licence introduced tighter controls including a stringent risk assessment. Since the introduction of the new scheme, the number of prisoners who have failed to return has fallen by 75 per cent. Since August 1995, the Prisoners (Return to Custody) Act makes it a criminal offence for any person to remain unlawfully at large following the expiry of the temporary release licence.The Act also gives the police increased powers to enter and search premises without a warrant in order to recapture those unlawfully at large. These provisions were designed to ensure that prisoners do not abuse the trust placed in them when granted a period of temporary release on licence.