Prisoner Escapes
(asked on 6th January 2016) - View Source
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people have been charged with trying to escape from a prison van in each of the last five years; and how many such people have avoided recapture.
The National Offender Management Service (NOMS) does not hold data about the number of people charged with trying to escape from vehicles operated by NOMS or by contractors.
NOMS has implemented a range of measures in recent years to improve the security surrounding prisoners on escort. Between 2010-11 and 2014-15, 23 prisoners escaped from vehicles operated by NOMS or by contractors. All were re-captured.
Overall, the number of escapes from prison escorts almost halved from 102 between 2005-06 and 2009-10, to 59 between 2010-11 and 2014-15.
The table below gives the numbers and details of the escapes for each of these years.
Escapes from escorts while entering or leaving vehicles1 or en route to or from venue |
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Response | 2010/11 | 2011/12 | 2012/13 | 2013/14 | 2014/15 |
ENTERING VEHICLE | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
LEAVING VEHICLE | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
VEHICLE EN ROUTE FROM VENUE | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
VEHICLE EN ROUTE TO VENUE | 1 | 6 | 1 | 3 | 2 |
TOTAL | 1 | 9 | 2 | 7 | 4 |
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(1) Vehicles primarily refer to prison vans used for escorting prisoner but do include other vehicle types | |||||
The table below provides information about escapes which have taken place from prison escort and private escort contractors from 2005/06 to 2014/15. The table includes escapes from courts but not those escapes of less than 15 minutes’ duration and covers the full duration of the escort process.
KPI Escapes1 from Prison Escort2 and from Private Escort Contractors (PECS)3 from 2005/06 to 2014/15 | ||||||||||
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| 2005 /06 | 2006 /07 | 2007 /08 | 2008 /09 | 2009 /10 | 2010 /11 | 2011 /12 | 2012 /13 | 2013 /14 | 2014 /15 |
KPI Prison Escorts Escapes | 8 | 6 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 1 |
KPI Contracted Out Escort (PECS) Escapes | 17 | 19 | 16 | 15 | 12 | 10 | 13 | 9 | 9 | 12 |
KPI Category A Escapes during Escort | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1 | - | - | - |
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1) The definition of a Key Performance Indicator (KPI) Escape if (i) the prisoner is at liberty for 15 minutes or more before recapture or (ii) a prisoner escapes and is charged with another criminal offence. | ||||||||||
2) Escaping the control of escorting prison service staff. | ||||||||||
3) Escapes from the secure vehicles or supervision of contracted prison escorts. This includes escapes from court where contracted prison escort staff have been notified. | ||||||||||