By Violent criminals in open prisons pose risk to public says union
A prison officers’ union has stated that violent criminals in open prisons pose a risk to public safety following the escape of dangerous sex offender Paul Robson.
On February 13 Paul Robson, who was serving a life sentence for attempted rape and indecent assault at the time, walked out of HMP North Sea Camp.
He was on the run from Lincolnshire Police for four days after walking out of the prison and stealing a prison bike to aid his escape.
He was later arrested in Skegness.
Jackie Marshall, from prison officers’ union POA, said the public were being put at risk but The Ministry of Justice said “incidents and absconds are rare”.
Ms Marshall disagreed with the Ministry’s statement, sharing with the BBC: “We’re never surprised to hear of absconders from the open estate.”
The POA believes prisoners are being moved to the open estate sooner due to population pressures from closed prisons.
She added that security is so lax in open prisons that criminals have even been able to use the services of sex workers.
The Ministry of Justice said it was spending £100m across the whole prison estate to bolster security to stop banned items reaching inmates.
Category D prison HMP North Sea Camp near Boston can hold up to 420 inmates, with the prison being about 80% full at its last inspection in April 2021.
Ms Marshall said she believed there were violent and dangerous prisoners in open estates who should not be there, putting the public at risk.
“There are rules that they are meant to comply with… [but] there’s no physical security in the estate,” the former prison officer added.
Absconding will “happen again”, she said.
A Ministry of Justice spokesman said there had not been a single violent incident reported at HMP North Sea Camp last year.
“Any prisoner who was violent or breached the rules would be returned to closed conditions, which means incidents and absconds are rare,” the spokesperson added.
Ms Marshall said there was a place for open prisons in the justice system.
“It’s really important that you reintegrate people back into society, but that has to be done right, and that has to be done with the right prisoners going into the open estate.”
