ANOTHER prisoner escaped from Britain's first private prisoner escort
service yesterday just minutes after the head of the Prison Service said
that the company would not suffer any penalties despite criticism of its
record.
Prison Service director-general Mr Derek Lewis summoned senior
executives from Group 4 to a meeting yesterday after four prisoners
escaped while in the company's custody during the first week of its
#9.5m contract to provide escort duties in Humberside and the East
Midlands.
Afterwards, he said that he would not be imposing any financial
penalties on Group 4, adding that some of the problems with the service
were ''outside the control'' of the company.
But just minutes after the start of a London news conference at which
Group 4 executives also defended the company's record, a 17-year-old
youth in Group 4 custody jumped from the dock at Ilkeston Magistrates
Court in Derbyshire and fled.
In Parliament, Opposition MPs derided the company's record and accused
the Government of running the escort service ''like an Ealing comedy''.
But Home Secretary Kenneth Clarke hit back, saying escapes on the way
to and from courts were ''frequent''. He accused Labour of taking no
interest in them until the service went into the private sector.
At the news conference, Mr Lewis said it had been a mistake to switch
the escort service overnight to Group 4, which took over last Monday.
But he said that there was no reason to question the effectiveness of
privatising the service and pledged to continue with the next phase by
putting the court escort programme in London out to tender.
He said that only one of the three escapes and one incorrect release
of a prisoner during the first four days of the contract was the fault
of Group 4.
Two were the result of design flaws in the Group 4 vans, which had
been built to Home Office specifications, while Mansfield Magistrates
Court had confirmed the release of a prisoner was not Group 4's fault.
Mr Michael Hirst, the director of Group 4 Court Services and a former
chief constable of Leicestershire, said launching such a complex new
service covering seven counties and dozens of courts and police stations
''was perhaps, in hindsight, not the right way to do it''.
As well as the Ilkeston incident, details emerged yesterday of the
release by Group 4 of a man on theft charges before a surety had been
paid.
Mr Jim Harrower, managing director of Group 4, said that a full
investigation was under way, but he claimed that the clerk of the court
had said the man, Mr Christopher Johnson, 33, was ''lawfully at large''.
The company said that Mr Johnson appeared at Leicester Magistrates Court
on Saturday and was bailed subject to #50 surety and reporting to
police. He was then released by Group 4 prior to surety payment.
Group 4 said the court clerk then consulted magistrates who agreed to
vary bail by deleting the surety clause so that the #50 did not need to
be paid.
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