Reformed ex-prisoner recalled to jail after missing probation appointment 20 years ago
7 October 2024, 06:20
A reformed inmate has been returned to prison after it emerged she missed an appointment with a probation officer 20 years ago.
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The female prisoner was hauled back to HMP Downview after the missed appointment came to light, now being ordered to serve a further 12 weeks behind bars for skipping the probation meeting - some two decades ago.
Prison watchdogs have now heavily criticised the HMP Downview for the delay.
They flagged that the unnamed mother had been reformed and remained on the straight and narrow in the years since her release, with the recall now meaning she had now lost her job following the historic breach.
The incident is believed to have taken place in the last 12 months, only now coming to light after a review by the Independent Monitoring Board suggested it was a poor use of already stretched prison resources.
It follows an admission by the Ministry of Justice, who admitted 37 prisoners were wrongly released under Labour's plans to reduce overcrowding in jails.
Her Majesty's Prison Downview is an all-female prison located in Banstead, Surrey, home to some 355 adult and juvenile inmates.
Inspectors found the prison was transferring women to an open prisons as a 'knee-jerk, short-term' solution to population pressure.
The report noted: "We monitored the case of a woman who was transferred to Downview on recall for just 12 weeks.
"The recall was for a breach of a licence condition (failure to attend her probation appointment), which had taken place 20 years prior to her recall to Downview.
"The woman had not committed any further offences in that time and was now a mother, with school-age children and secure employment.
"She lost her job in the community while in Downview and was not allocated any work or other activities during her time in the prison.
"We query whether this is a sensible use of a prison place in the middle of acute population pressure, and also of His Majesty's Prison Service resources generally."
A Prison Service spokesperson said: "Offenders released on licence are subject to strict conditions and they can be recalled to prison for breaching them."
The news comes as Tory hopeful Kemi Badenoch revealed she believed one-tenth of civil servants 'should be in prison' because they are bad at their jobs.
The Conservative leadership contender joked that some state employees were "'should be in prison' bad", drawing laughter from the audience at a Tory conference fringe event on Tuesday.
