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Hollesley Bay Prison: Prisoner Escapes

Volume 501: debated on Wednesday 2 December 2009

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many people have absconded from HMP Hollesley Bay in each of the last five years; and how long each absconder had served in the prison before absconding. (302254)

The data in table 1 as follows shows the number of prisoners who have absconded from HMP Hollesley Bay in each of the last five years. Table 2 below shows how long each absconder had served in the prison before absconding.

Absconds have been falling for some years and last year recorded the lowest number of absconds on record. This year is on course to improve further on that record low. Prisoners abscond from prison for many reasons. While open prisons will look for indications that prisoners may be susceptible to absconding, both on allocation to the prison and during their stay in the prison, it is not possible to predict every instance in which a prisoner may want to abscond.

Table 1: Number of absconds from HMP Hollesley Bay in each of the last five years

Number of absconds

2004-05

32

2005-06

16

2006-07

21

2007-08

19

2008-09

17

2009-10 to date

10

Total

115

Table 2: Days served by absconders in HMP Hollesley Bay before absconding in each of the last five years

Abscond number

Days before abscond

2004-05

1

77

2

255

3

20

4

0

5

173

6

31

7

31

8

10

9

1

10

1

11

56

12

150

13

27

14

32

15

13

16

93

17

45

18

9

19

9

20

46

21

15

22

95

23

110

24

129

25

50

26

97

27

25

28

9

29

9

30

78

31

7

32

7

2005-06

1

4

2

12

3

2

4

31

5

55

6

164

7

4

8

64

9

41

10

18

11

10

12

32

13

65

14

264

15

171

16

131

2006-07

1

107

2

104

3

54

4

97

5

35

6

33

7

26

8

7

9

735

10

37

11

23

12

96

13

16

14

4

15

135

16

184

17

20

18

29

19

134

20

62

21

217

2007-08

1

74

2

20

3

59

4

143

5

7

6

41

7

1

8

323

9

329

10

15

11

9

12

15

13

9

14

59

15

257

16

7

17

3

18

7

19

8

2008-09

1

23

2

578

3

7

4

88

5

47

6

72

7

23

8

22

9

23

10

104

11

122

12

375

13

70

14

82

15

201

16

78

17

115

2009-10 to date

1

17

2

12

3

55

4

18

5

121

6

26

7

46

8

49

9

106

10

40

Note:

These figures have been drawn from administrative data systems. Although care is taken when processing and analysing the returns, the detail collected is subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large scale recording system.

Figures on absconds and a range of other prison performance statistics are available on:

http://www.hmprisonservice.gov.uk/abouttheservice/prisonperformance/performancestatistics/