A serving prison governor had warned that the British public is being put "at risk" after a "sudden" rise of prisoners being sent to and subsequently absconding from open prisons.
Mark Dury, who represents the low security institutions within the Prison Governors' Association, issued the stark warning as a manhunt continues for an absconded foreign criminal.
Ola Abimbola, a 36-year-old foreign national, fled HM Prison Ford in West Sussex while serving a 21-year sentence for serious crimes, including kidnapping, grievous bodily harm (GBH), and carrying an offensive weapon in public.
In a post announcing the search last month, Sussex Police advised the pubic "not to approach him" if seen and to contact the authorities "immediately".
Ford Prison, which he fled, is a Category D institution, meaning it has the lowest security arrangements.
Traditionally, these open prisons were used to house prisoners at the tail end of their sentence as they prepared to integrate back into society.
These transfers could only occur within three years of a prisoner's eligibility for parole and no earlier than five years before their automatic release date.
However, overcrowding in high-security clinks has compelled policymakers to allow prisoners to transfer earlier in their sentence.
A prison governor has warned the public is 'at risk' after a 'sudden' increase of absconders from open prisons
|PA
In March 2024, under the previous Government, the five-year before release component was dropped.
Labour then continued the liberalising trend, extending the window to five years before parole in April 2025.
Over the Spring, they also introduced measures that certain prisoners could be eligible for open prisons a year earlier than previously.
Mark Dury noted that open prisons had seen almost no absconders for "many years" but were now "suddenly" experiencing a rise in cases.
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A manhunt was launched for Ola Abimbola last month after he fled an open prison in Sussex
|SUSSEX POLICE
He suggested this may have originated from the increase in prisoners who were "not suitable" for the institutions.
"There are a large number of prisoners in open prisons now that we would not have considered suitable two or three years ago," the veteran prison governor explained.
To that end, Mr Dury noted this would inevitably lead to an "increased risk for the public".
"There has to be a level of public safety that’s at risk when you’re taking prisoners into an open prison with limited physical barriers who maybe shouldn’t be there.
"Who are able to walk out, who are able to leave at any point. So there has to be an increased risk for the public," he warned Sky News.
The serving governor felt that risk assessments on prisoners before being transferred to open prisons were merely an "algorithm tick box" because of "the pressure on offender management units".
GB News has approached the Prison Governors Association for more information on the brewing crisis.
For their part, a Ministry of Justice spokesman said Labour had: "Inherited a justice system in crisis, with prisons days away from collapse and were forced to take firm action to get the situation back under control."
"The small number of offenders eligible for moves to open prison face a strict, thorough risk assessment and anyone found breaching the rules can be immediately returned to a closed prison," they added.
It is just over a year since Elliot Riley made a brazen bust out from HMP Kirkham, an open prison
|GMP
Mr Dury's stark warning comes just over a year after violent drug dealer Elliot Riley made a brazen escape from HMP Kirkham, an open prison, while GB News was covering the early release of convicts last October.
The 32-year-old, who was serving an eight-year sentence on drug offences, was spotted clambering over the institution’s barbed-wire-topped fence before a waiting vehicle drove him away.
He remains at large, with Lancashire Police and the Ministry of Justice stressing they were “urgently working” to see him returned.
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