You couldn’t make it up…
When Highpoint Prison in my constituency was an open prison, the word “open” was famously appropriate When it began to house more serious criminals, that changed. One of its more infamous residents was Myra Hindley.
Mark Ryder, serving a 15 year sentence, was allowed to visit Cambridge on Thursday with two escorts, but was not handcuffed. He escaped, serving only to prove that history has a tendency to repeat itself. In 1991, he escaped from guards – being recaptured only in 1993 – and whilst on the run committed a murder. Ironically, it was for this murder that he was serving a life sentence at Highpoint.
Guess what the Prison Service said – “This is not an escape or an abscond, it is deemed a licence failure”.
What do you think? Would you have another description?
What really worries me is that with our Prison Service under such pressure because of the Government’s unwillingness to build new prisons and with the increased future use of open prisons, we may get even more misjudgements.
The Home Secretary talks of his department not being “fit for purpose”! I think shambles would be a better way of describing his empire. Do you agree?