A CONFIDENTIAL memo reveals that John Reid is prepared to “take the risk” that more violent criminals will escape from prison as the price of an emergency measure to tackle the overcrowding crisis.



The document shows that the home secretary has been warned by prison governors that plans to switch inmates from secure to open prisons will lead to a rise in the numbers absconding. They include burglars, muggers and other violent offenders.

Phil Wheatley, head of the prison service, told governors that Reid had “accepted as inevitable” that there would be an “increase in absconds”, according to the memo written by a top prison governor.

The governor, Fiona Radford, who is in charge of Ford open prison in West Sussex, told her staff in the memo: “Ministers have apparently been briefed to this effect and are taking this risk.”

The disclosures come as Reid, who has made the safety of the public the “guiding purpose” of his tenure as home secretary, is facing demands for a parliamentary statement. This week he is expected to announce that police cells will have to be used to cope with the overflow of inmates.

He is also trying to persuade other countries to allow foreign prisoners to serve the rest of their sentences abroad. Last week the prison population hit an all-time high of 79,843, with just 125 places spare in jails in England and Wales.

This weekend David Davis, the shadow home secretary, demanded Reid make an urgent statement in the Commons: “This memo shows a scandalous disregard for public safety. This government has been warned time and time again by the opposition and its own civil servants about the risks to the public of its own incompetent prisons policy.

“We see in this document that John Reid is willing for this risk to be compounded by his willingness to accept that more prisoners will abscond from open prison.”

The memo — an eight-page “briefing” circulated to Radford’s staff at Ford on August 3 — reveals that secure jails have been instructed to identify inmates who can be transferred to open prisons such as Ford which still had some spare places.

The order from Michael Spurr, the prison service’s director of operations, says those likely to be suitable are “prisoners serving short sentences for non-sexual or violent offences who are relatively low risk”.

However, Radford’s memo reveals she has told Wheatley, the prison service director-general, of her fears about the switch because of the risk of inmates escaping.

“I have already raised my concerns directly with the area manager and the director general . . . that we are likely to get more short termers, some who should really be in Cat C closed] conditions and that this will mean almost inevitably that the abscond rate will go up in Cat D [open] prisons. Ministers have apparently been briefed to this effect and are taking this risk,” says her memo.

Radford also details comments made by Wheatley to prison governors about the overcrowding crisis. Wheatley reports directly to Reid.

“Phil Wheatley came to talk to the area meeting last week on July 28. His main points are summed up as follows. Growth in population — mainly long termers. Disproportionate growth in YOs [young offenders] and juveniles. Women’s population reducing. Foreign nationals not disproportionately absconding — quite safe in open prisons — only a small problem at Ford. Increase[d] number of absconds and increased number of drug positives accepted as inevitable by JR.” JR is understood to refer to Reid.

Radford is one of the most respected figures in the prison service. She was appointed to her post at Ford in November 2003. At the time she wrote her memo two months ago, she was temporary governor at Lewes prison.
Ford is the most well-known open prison in Britain. Former celebrity inmates include Jeffrey Archer, the disgraced Tory peer who was jailed for perjury, and Lord Brockett, who served time for fraud.

In open jails such as Ford, there is minimal security and inmates can simply walk out through the gates. The lack of security was highlighted earlier this year when it was disclosed that 11 foreigners had escaped so far in 2006.

William Higham, of the Prison Reform Trust, said there was already evidence that inmates who should be kept in more secure category C jails were being moved to open prisons. He added that open prisons were never designed for these “short termers”, many of whom had “chaotic” lives because of problems with drink and drugs. “We fear this new policy could have a dysfunctional effect on prisoners who are moved to an open prison.”

On average two prisoners a day have walked out of open jails in England and Wales over the past five years, a total of more than 4,300 since 2001. A quarter remain at large. Since 1997 more than 7,000 inmates have fled from open jails, including 1,018

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BACKGROUND

• Jail fewer people to solve overcrowding

• Reid: we'll risk jail breaks to beat crisis

• New jails for 8,000 prisoners to deal with overcrowding

• Upsurge of foreign criminals stretches prisons to the limit

• Ministers sent violent inmates to open jails

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• Prisons to reach capacity this week

• Reid fights to end torture shield for terror suspects

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