HC Deb 17 September 2003 vol 410 c809W
Mr. Jack

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on his strategy to minimise the number of prisoners who abscond from open prisons. [125809]

Paul Goggins

The Prison Service strategy to minimise the number of prisoners who abscond from open prisons contains a number of strandsa thorough risk assessment process aimed at identifying prisoners suitable for the particular regime and nature of the open estate, including better collation of intelligence data and improved reception procedures; physical security upgrades at individual establishments, subject to their own risk assessment process, including better lighting and patrols; regular monitoring, on a monthly basis of abscond rates nationally, reported to the director of operations for onward dissemination to area managers; analysis of trends, including the impact of population increases which will be fed into the current review of categorisation.

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