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<p /> <p /> <p>Progression to open prison is never automatic and only those prisoners
who are assessed as a low risk of harm to the public and a low risk of abscond will
be held in open conditions. Prisoners serving longer sentences may be allocated to
open prison towards the end of their sentence but only where they have successfully
completed relevant offending behaviour work that is judged to have reduced any risks.
In the case of ISPs this generally involves a recommendation from the Parole Board.
The table below shows how many days each offender had been in open conditions prior
to the date of abscond.</p><p> </p><p><strong>Table 1: Number of days served in open
prison prior to absconding, January 2014 to March 2014</strong></p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td><p>Time
since arrival</p></td><td><p>Number of absconders</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>On day of
arrival</p></td><td><p>0</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>1st or 2nd full day</p></td><td><p>0</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>3
days to 7 days</p></td><td><p>0</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>8 days to 30 days</p></td><td><p>4</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>31
days to 3 months (90 days)</p></td><td><p>24</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>3 months to 6
months (91 to 182 days)</p></td><td><p>10</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>6 months to 1 year</p></td><td><p>4</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Over
1 year</p></td><td><p>0</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p>Figures from April
2014 onwards are not yet available. Over 97% of prisoners who abscond are re-captured
and returned to custody.</p><p> </p><p>Absconds have reached record lows under this
Government. Abscond levels are down 80% over the last 10 years.</p><p> </p><p>The
sentence length at the time of the abscond is not readily available for all absconds
in 2013/14. As sentences can change due to further criminal or prison offences it
would be necessary to write out to each establishment and analyse each prisoner’s
records to determine the remaining sentence length at the time of the abscond. This
could only be achieved at disproportionate cost.</p><p> </p><p>Figures for the number
of absconds, by prison, since 1995 are provided in the Prison Digest contained in
the Prison and Probation Trusts Performance Statistics. This can be found at:</p><p><a
href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/prison-and-probation-trusts-performance-statistics-201314"
target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/prison-and-probation-trusts-performance-statistics-201314</a></p>
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