Justice Secretary backs urgent changes in wake of alleged prison escape
An investigation into procedures at HMP Wandsworth was carried out.
Prison staff and justice officials have been told to make urgent changes in the wake of an alleged escape.
Justice Secretary Alex Chalk told MPs a probe he ordered into the alleged escape of prisoner Daniel Khalife from HMP Wandsworth in south London in September had concluded and that he had asked the jail, the Prison and Probation Service and the Ministry of Justice to “take forward the independent investigation’s recommendations as a matter of priority”.
In a written statement to Parliament, published on Monday, Mr Chalk said it would “not be appropriate” to detail the findings of the investigation while there were ongoing criminal proceedings but added: “I am committed to sharing what further information I can when the criminal proceedings conclude.”
Mr Chalk said he asked Mr Bristow to consider what procedures were in place at the jail and if staffing was “sufficient” as he carried out his investigation, with a view to producing findings that could be implemented at HMP Wandsworth and across the rest of the prison estate if required.
Mr Bristow was also asked to look at “the facts of the case, including the categorisation of the prisoner, risk assessments and decisions around employment in the prison, the processes and actions that enabled access to materials that might have facilitated the alleged escape, the implementation of the counting protocol, and relevant security measures, including checks relating to the delivery vehicle”, Mr Chalk’s statement said.
The Justice Secretary sought to assure the Commons that he and the Government were taking the findings of the probe “extremely seriously”, adding that he was “committed to minimising the likelihood of any such incident occurring in the future”.
Mr Chalk stressed prison escapes were “extremely rare” with just 16 recorded in England and Wales between April 2010 and March 2023, compared with 146 escapes from jails between April 1997 and March 2010.
But he added: “It is vital for both public protection and confidence in the criminal justice system that our prisons are secure.”
– Khalife, a former soldier, is accused of escaping from the prison while facing prosecution for passing sensitive information to Iranian intelligence. He denies all charges against him and is due to stand trial in October.
