THE government has quietly resumed the practice of sending high-risk offenders with a history of violence to open prisons, in breach of its own guidelines.

According to complaints submitted by probation officers to their union this month, criminals convicted of grievous bodily harm, domestic violence, robbery and wounding are being moved to open jails.

The National Association of Probation Officers (Napo) has received reports from six of the country’s nine open prisons about a new influx of cases of inappropriate referrals.

Staff at one open prison said that in mid-December they had 25 persistent offenders, all deemed to be high risk to the public.

The use of open prisons to house violent criminals was first announced in October 2006 by John Reid, then home secretary, as a short-term solution to overcrowding.

It was stopped in March this year following complaints from staff about the increasing violence and drug use by the transferred offenders. The government then issued instructions that no violent criminals or sex offenders should be transferred.

It has now emerged that when the prison population passed 81,500 in November, this was ignored and prisoners began once again to be relocated to open prisons.

Harry Fletcher, assistant general secretary of Napo, said: “It was a panic measure last year, it caused pandemonium and the government stopped sending them. At the beginning of December they appear to have started again. They do it by sleight of hand.”

It is thought that 700 prisoners escaped from open prisons in 2006 - some believed to be violent inmates transferred from higher security facilities. Edward Garnier, the shadow prisons minister and a QC, said: “This shows a complete disregard for the public’s safety.”

A spokeswoman for the justice ministry said: “Our position has always been to safeguard the public.”

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