News story

19th January 2004

MP to Challenge Ministers over "Open" Prisons

Northavon MP Steve Webb will tomorrow (Tuesday 20th) challenge Ministers in the House of Commons over concerns that open prisons such as that at Leyhill in South Gloucestershire are receiving prisoners who are not safe to be in open conditions. The debate, which will be led by Steve Webb, comes in the light of two particular cases of prisoners absconding from Leyhill which have given cause for concern. In the early Autumn, a man who had absconded from Leyhill was found guilty of assaulting two women in Oxfordshire whilst on the run from Leyhill, and was given an additional prison sentence. In November, a convicted drug dealer, just seven years through a twenty-one year prison sentence absconded from Leyhill and is still on the run. Local MP Steve Webb has secured the debate, to which a Home Office Minister will be called to respond, in order to seek reassurances from the authorities that prison overcrowding has not meant that unsuitable people are being placed in open conditions because there are insufficient places in higher-security prisons.

Speaking in advance of the debate, Steve Webb said:

“I firmly support the principle of open prisons. There is a strong case for prisons that help to prepare those who have already served long sentences to get ready for release and to get re-settled into the community. This must be better than simply moving offenders from closed conditions straight out into the community at the end of their sentence, and I applaud the work and commitment of the staff who work at Leyhill.

"But we owe it to the prison staff and to the local community to ensure that the people who are placed in open conditions have been properly vetted and are not simply part of a “numbers game” of juggling the ever-rising prison population. I will be seeking reassurances from the Minister that these high profile absconds are being properly investigated with lessons being learned, and also that there should be a strengthening
of the vetting that goes on before offenders are placed in open conditions”.


Note to editors: The debate is scheduled to start in the House of Commons at 7pm and to finish at 7.30pm, although it could begin earlier if other Parliamentary business is completed sooner. Steve Webb will open the debate, and a Home Office Minister, possibly Prisons Minister, Paul Goggins, will respond.