An error has been identified in the written answer given to the hon. and learned Member for Beaconsfield (Mr. Grieve), 10 November 2009, Official Report, columns 216-17W. The full answer should have been as follows:
The table below shows information relating to three prisoners still unlawfully at large for murder who have absconded from open prisons in England and Wales since April 2004.
Prisoners still unlawfully at large since April 2004 serving an index offence of murder.
Date of offence March 1984 25/04/1982 27/08/1988 Date convicted to life imprisonment 12/12/1984 08/10/1982 31/10/1989 Length of sentence Life Life Life Date of re-categorisation to category D 01/09/2004 08/09/2005 01/02/2009 Date of transfer to open conditions 01/09/2004 26/10/2005 21/01/2009 Date of abscond 17/05/2005 HMP Sudbury 10/01/2007 HMP Sudbury 31/08/2009 HMP Ford Was prisoner on temporary release at time of abscond No No No Number of offences against prison discipline during this period of custody 30* 29* 39* Note on table: *All of these would have been proven and subject to disciplinary punishment.
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
It is obviously in general much in the public interest that the names of those escaping and absconding should be made public, but there can be operational or other reasons for not doing so in specific cases. I will write to the hon. and learned Member for Beaconsfield with the name of the offender when the police have confirmed that there is no difficulty in placing this in the public domain.
Over 96 per cent. of prisoners who abscond are re-captured and returned to custody. On recapture the prisoner will be returned to a closed prison and referred to the police for consideration for prosecution for having been unlawfully at large.