Justice Secretary David Lammy is under fire amid accusations of concealing a larger issue, following the escape of yet another foreign convict—this time, by casually leaving an open prison.
Law enforcement has been unable to trace Ola Abimbola, a violent criminal who has been missing from HMP Ford for over three weeks.
Repeated warnings to the Labour party have highlighted concerns that unsuitable inmates are being moved to open facilities like Ford, as officials scramble for solutions to address the overcrowding in prisons.
Abimbola vanished from the prison, located near Arundel, West Sussex, on October 16, and has not been spotted since.
The 36-year-old, whose nationality remains unclear, was serving a 21-year sentence for crimes including kidnapping, grievous bodily harm (GBH), and carrying an offensive weapon in public.
Shadow Justice Secretary Robert Jenrick remarked, “David Lammy is concealing an even more significant scandal, with dangerous inmates now simply walking out of open prisons.”
‘Labour were warned about placing high-risk inmates in open prisons, but they ignored them and these are the results.
‘The whole system is in chaos under ‘Calamity Lammy’ and the British people are being put in danger.’
Ola Abimbola, a foreign national, escaped from open prison HMP Ford on October 16 and has not been seen since
Sussex Police released this CCTV image Abimbola last month after allegedly walking out of prison
Justice Secretary David Lammy has faced a mounting backlash after stonewalling repeated questions about bungles in the Commons on Wednesday and new prison release revelations
It came after Algerian sex offender Brahim Kaddour-Cherif, 24, went on the run after being mistakenly freed from HMP Wandsworth in south-west London on October 29.
Another Wandsworth prisoner, fraudster William ‘Billy’ Smith, 35, was also wrongly set free on Monday but handed himself into the scandal-hit jail on Thursday.
Mark Drury, of the Prison Governors’ Association (PGA), warned there had been a ‘sudden’ rise in absconders from open prisons in recent years, adding that there is an ‘increased risk to the public’.
He said that due to attempts to tackle prison overcrowding ‘there are a large number of prisoners in open prisons now we would not have considered suitable two or three years ago’.
In June, the PGA blasted a new Labour scheme which allows serious criminals to be transferred to open prison after serving just two weeks behind bars.
It said move would ‘potentially place the public at greater risk’.
It was the first time the association had expressed concern over a series of soft justice measures introduced by then Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood, who was promoted to Home Secretary by PM Sir Keir Starmer two months ago.
Measures she introduced while at the Ministry of Justice in June allow prisoners to be transferred to open jails three years before their normal release date.
Crucially, governors will have ‘only limited discretion in exceptional circumstances’ to reject the transfers, the PGA said.
Brahim Kaddour-Cherif had been serving a sentence at HMP Wandsworth for trespass with intent to steal. He has a past conviction for indecent exposure
Hedush Kebatu (pictured) was wrongly freed from HMP Chelmsford instead of being sent to an immigration detention centre
Osei Kuffour, 36, had been serving 25 years for attempted murder after shooting a woman in the face when he failed to return to HMP Spring in October. He was arrested the next day
Another inmate Anton Newell, 36, who is originally from Isleworth in Middlesex, absconded from the same open prison in June and it remains unclear whether he remains at large
They also warned they would only have a two-week period to block a transfer, and that proper assessments could not be carried out in time.
PGA president Tom Wheatley said at the time: ‘Without the ability to properly consider a prisoner’s behaviour during those two weeks we have concerns our members will be required to take decisions that potentially place the public at greater risk.’
Other prisoners have gone missing from open jails in recent months.
Thames Valley Police reported that a ‘vicious’ East London drug dealer had absconded from HMP Spring Hill in Buckinghamshire last month.
Osei Kuffour, 36, had been serving 25 years for attempted murder after shooting a woman in the face.
He was arrested the next day by police.
Another inmate Anton Newell, 36, originally from Isleworth in Middlesex, absconded from the same open prison in June and it remains unclear whether he remains at large.
