Violent lifers sent to open prisons

Record numbers of the country’s most dangerous criminals are being allowed to serve their sentences in open prisons.

The Sunday Post can today reveal the parole board has allowed more than 2,000 lags serving life sentences a move to a more relaxed prison regime.

The number of prisoners including murderers, rapists and armed robbers to effectively be downgraded peaked at 555 in 2013.

Parole board chiefs have already sanctioned more than 100 moves so far this year. And only 13 requests by convicts to serve sentences in open prisons have been turned down in the past four years.

Critics have described the situation as “alarming” given that relaxed open nicks are easier to escape from.

Labour’s shadow justice spokesman Sadiq Khan blamed overcrowding and the coalition Government’s “reckless” closure of jails for the hike in the number of danger prisoner moves.

He said: “I’m deeply worried that this Government is responsible for the wrong kind of prisoners now being held in open jails.

“The enormous pressures that have built up in our prisons under this Govern-ment are leading to corners being cut.”

The figures which cover England and Wales were released in response to a freedom of information request. They show the number of lifers being allowed moves to open prisons has increased from 371 in 2010 to 555 last year.

There have been 107 similar requests by cons serving life sentences to March this year with only four turned down.

In total, 2,081 have been recommended a transfer to open prisons since 2010.

Ministers insist such transfers are needed to re-introduce reformed crim-inals back into society. Prisoners are risk-assessed to see whether they are dangerous and victims or their families are allowed a say on the final decision.

But the situation will concern justice secretary Chris Grayling who slated lax security at open prisons after six lags absconded over four days last month.

Dean Jackson, from Newcastle, went on the run from open prison HMP Hatfield, near Doncaster, with 39-year-old Damien Burns, dubbed the ‘Scarborough Slasher’.

Burns, who earned his nickname after a horrifying knife attack on a teenager, was discovered hiding in a cupboard at the seaside resort two days later.

Fugitive Jackson, 27, was on remand awaiting sentence for theft.

Armed robber Michael Wheatley, known as the ‘Skull Cracker’, was jailed for life in May for a string of offences committed while on the run from an open prison. Wheatley was in prison for a series of robberies when he absconded. The 55-year-old, who pistol whipped his victims, blamed the Government for him going on the run. He claimed he committed more crimes after absconding as prison therapy courses were stopped.

Wheatley’s escape was followed by three others who absconded from open prisons.

Paul Oddysses, 49, a convicted armed robber serving a life went on the run from Hollesley Bay open prison in Suffolk.

Less than four hours later Lewis Powter, 30, who was jailed after slashing his sister’s boyfriend with a machete, also failed to turn up for roll call at the prison.

Wayne McLeod, 36, also absconded from Springhill open prison in Buckinghamshire.

He was later arrested. Next month, he will face a charge of escaping from lawful custody.

Convicted murderer Derek Passmore brutally smashed the skull of his disabled victim. Cops arrested the 49-year-old last week, a year after he walked out of Ford open prison on day release.

Last night, Tory backbencher Philip Davies said: “Life sentence prisoners should be behind bars for life, not swanning around open prisons where they can simply walk out of the gates.

“This alarming increase shows the parole board is more concerned with the rights of prisoners than with public protection and the rights of decent law-abiding people.”

A prison service spokesman said: “Open prisons perform a range of functions but notably to prepare long-sentenced pris-oners for release.

“It’s right that people who have been in prison a long time are tested in this kind of environment before their eventual release.”

A spokesman for the parole board said it assesses each case on its individual merits.

He said: “Over the last four years there has been a gradual decrease in the proportion of parole board reviews resulting in a recommendation to transfer prisoners serving life sentences to open conditions.

“In the financial year 2010/11, in cases where lifers were eligible for a transfer, open conditions was recommended in 44% of cases. In 2013/14, this fell to 38%.”