Prisoners on the run

The head of the Prison Service has confessed he does not know how many inmates are on the run from open jails.

Director general Phil Wheatley said there was not an accurate system in place to count the numbers recaptured after absconding.

Apparently this "astonishing" admission has put fresh pressure on Home Secretary John Reid.

I very much doubt that, in case anyone has yet to notice, NOBODY in this bankrupt Government cares.

Whatever happened to the missing foreign prisoners, nothing, what will happen with these missing prisoners, nothing.

The premature release of more than 1,000 foreign prisoners who were due to be deported led to the sacking last year of Charles Clarke, Dr Reid's predecessor as Home Secretary.
Dr Reid told the Commons Home Affairs Committee last month that the loophole which allowed the releases had now been closed. But he admitted more than 300 wrongly released prisoners, including one murderer, were still free.

The new row comes 24 hours after Derbyshire Chief Constable David Coleman refused to release pictures of two escaped murderers amid fears it might breach their human rights.

See. So what if people are being robbed, assaulted even murdered by people who should still be under lock and key, that doesn't matter to these people. What's the worst that could happen, a few more stories in the papers, an article on the television, soothing words, then nothing, business as usual.

And what of the opposition parties:

Tory Shadow Home Secretary David Davis said: 'The chaos in the Prison Service continues under John Reid. It is outrageous that the Government does not even know how many prisoners are on the run.
'Yet again the public are put at very serious risk by this Government's incompetence.'

And Liberal Democrat Shadow Home Secretary Nick Clegg said: 'It is really yet another symptom of the Government's self-inflicted overcrowding crisis in our prisons.'

Well there we are, that's telling them, that will have some impact on Government policy.

Nothing should surprise any of us anymore, the way things are going, this time next year we may well look back to now and think, we never had it so good.

Prison boss confesses: I don't know how many inmates are on the run