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26/05/2006
Foreign prisoners to be moved from open jail
Foreign prisoners being held at Ford open prison are to be returned to closed prisons, the Prison Service has announced.
The announcement comes after 11 prisoners absconded from the prison this month. They included Jamaican drug dealer Ransford James Baker, who was facing deportation.
The announcement will be a further embarrassment for the Home Office, which has faced strong criticism since the revelation that over a thousand foreign prisoners were released without being considered for deportation.
A Prison Service spokesperson said that the decision had been taken because of the "current high abscond level at Ford amongst this group of prisoners".
The spokesperson said: "The prisoners are all being returned to closed conditions where they will be fully and rigorously risk-assessed before any decision is made on the level of security that they require."
The Prison Service said that no foreign prisoners had absconded from any other open prisons since May 1.
Commenting on the situation, Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesperson Nick Clegg said: "Given the Government's well publicised drive to deport foreign prisoners, this state of affairs could surely have been predicted. They should have been moved to more secure surroundings far earlier.
"We need an urgent review of the inmates in Britain's open prisons to make sure more of those who should be deported do not escape.
"But with higher security prisons already overcrowded, where is the Prison Service going to put these people? This situation is in danger of reaching crisis proportions."
(KMcA)
The announcement comes after 11 prisoners absconded from the prison this month. They included Jamaican drug dealer Ransford James Baker, who was facing deportation.
The announcement will be a further embarrassment for the Home Office, which has faced strong criticism since the revelation that over a thousand foreign prisoners were released without being considered for deportation.
A Prison Service spokesperson said that the decision had been taken because of the "current high abscond level at Ford amongst this group of prisoners".
The spokesperson said: "The prisoners are all being returned to closed conditions where they will be fully and rigorously risk-assessed before any decision is made on the level of security that they require."
The Prison Service said that no foreign prisoners had absconded from any other open prisons since May 1.
Commenting on the situation, Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesperson Nick Clegg said: "Given the Government's well publicised drive to deport foreign prisoners, this state of affairs could surely have been predicted. They should have been moved to more secure surroundings far earlier.
"We need an urgent review of the inmates in Britain's open prisons to make sure more of those who should be deported do not escape.
"But with higher security prisons already overcrowded, where is the Prison Service going to put these people? This situation is in danger of reaching crisis proportions."
(KMcA)
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