HMP Wandsworth has discovered itself below the highlight after a nationwide manhunt was launched for an escaped terror suspect.
Daniel Abed Khalife, a 21-year-old soldier with the Royal Corps of Alerts was being held on remand on the Class B jail after he was accused of planting faux bombs at a navy base within the West Midlands, and different costs regarding the Official Secrets and techniques Act.
Safety was tightened at airports and different worldwide departure factors on Wednesday, after Khalife – who labored within the jail’s kitchen – outwitted the guards as he fled the south London jail in his prepare dinner’s uniform at 7.50am.
Describing the escape as “at greatest” a “catastrophic system failure”, the jail’s former safety chief mentioned the “extremely embarrasing” safety breach was “not totally shocking given what we find out about what’s occurring Wandsworth in the intervening time”.
“I’m afraid to say that Wandsworth, like so a lot of our flagship prisons, is in freefall,” Professor Ian Acheson instructed BBC Radio 4’s At present programme on Thursday.
“You’ve solely received to have a look at the latest inspections and different monitoring stories that reveal it’s filthy, it’s vermin-infested,” he continued. “On any day 30 to 44 per cent of frontline workers are unavailable to work. Morale is terrible. I imply, frankly, should you can’t even handle to get the bins emptied in a spot like Wandsworth what else goes unsuitable?”
The Victorian-era jail was branded a “crumbling, overcrowded, vermin-infested” facility by HM chief inspector of prisons Charlie Taylor after his most up-to-date inspection in September 2021.
Wandsworth was probably the most overcrowded prisons in England and Wales – with almost three-quarters of the 1,364 prisoners in September sharing cells designed for one particular person, inspectors mentioned.
Inspectors warned “there weren’t sufficient workers to verify prisoners acquired even probably the most primary regime”, with one group of inmates described as strolling “blinking into the daylight” after spending greater than every week indoors.
Why was Khalife in HMP Wandsworth?
Khalife appeared on the Outdated Bailey in late July, the place he denied the three costs he’s going through.
He’s accused of acquiring private data from the Ministry of Defence’s database about members of the Armed Forces on 2 August 2021, prone to be helpful to an individual committing or getting ready a terrorist act.
Between Could 2019 and January 2022, Khalife is accused of acquiring, accumulating, recording, publishing or speaking data which could possibly be helpful to an enemy, in breach of the Official Secrets and techniques Act.
Lastly, in January, the 21-year-old is alleged to have planted a faux bomb at his barracks within the West Midlands, from which he went lacking for twenty-four days earlier than being arrested.
He was despatched to Wandsworth after being denied bail over fears he may depart the nation forward of a trial scheduled for 13 November.
What class is Wandsworth Jail?
Questions have been raised about why Khalife was positioned in Wandsworth – which is a Class B jail – versus a Class A jail resembling HMP Belmarsh in south-east London, which is customary for these going through such critical costs.
The federal government’s science minister Michelle Donelan mentioned an investigation had been launched into his detention on the lower-security jail, however instructed Occasions Radio that her understanding was that it was not “black and white” whether or not a terror suspect must be held in a class A jail.
Requested whether or not Khalife had not been held in Belmarsh as a result of it was full, Ms Donelan mentioned it was “no secret” that jail capability was a problem.
Class A prisons are the highest-security prisons which home prisoners who, in the event that they had been to flee, pose the best risk to the general public, police or nationwide safety, in response to the Ministry of Justice, which describes Class B jails as “both native or coaching prisons”.
“Native prisons home prisoners which can be taken instantly from court docket within the native space (sentenced or on remand), and coaching prisons maintain long-term and high-security prisoners,” the ministry’s web site states.
The place is Wandsworth Jail?
HMP Wandsworth was initially generally known as the Surrey Home of Correction when it was inbuilt 1851, making it one of many oldest prisons within the nation.
It’s positioned within the southwest London borough of Wandsworth, and sits subsequent to a railway line, an A-road. It sits alongside Wandsworth Widespread, a tennis membership, pub and is located inside 500 metres of quite a few nurseries and first colleges.
Police have mentioned that Khalife has hyperlinks to the Kingston space, which has a rail hyperlink to Wandsworth and sits some six miles away.
Which notable inmates are there?
Wandsworth has housed numerous infamous inmates in its 172-year historical past.
Most not too long ago, tennis star Boris Becker was housed on the jail – lower than two miles from Wimbledon the place he cemented his fame aged 17 in 1985 – after he was convicted for breaking the phrases of his chapter by hiding property.
Paedophile glam rock singer Gary Glitter additionally reportedly spent a month on the jail as he served his 16-year sentence for intercourse crimes in opposition to three schoolgirls, earlier than being launched from jail in February simply eight years after his conviction.
Wikileaks founder Julian Assange has additionally been held in Wandsworth at numerous factors in his authorized travails, as was David Chaytor, the Labour MP jailed for 18 months in 2011 after admitting claiming false parliamentary bills.
Notorious London gangster Ronnie Kray was sentenced to 3 years at Wandsworth in 1956, whereas infamous prisoner Charles Bronson additionally served time on the jail, the place he allegedly tried to poison the prisoner within the adjoining cell.
Has anybody escaped earlier than?
There have been quite a few escapes from Wandsworth through the years, most not too long ago in 2019.
That incident noticed Stephen Forde, a fuel engineer jailed for six weeks after admitting breaching a restraining order, wrongly launched by jail workers simply six days into his sentence. Forde reportedly took his daughter on a week-long vacation however was arrested by Essex Police upon his return to Britain.
4 years prior, fraudster Neil Moore tricked wardens into releasing him by posting a letter purporting to be from the court docket service.
One other incident in 2003 carries imprecise similarities to Khalife’s escape – that of Eamon Donaghue, an inmate convicted for attacking a police officer with a stolen automotive, who walked out of the jail sporting a jail officer’s uniform he had found whereas cleansing the officers’ mess corridor.
However maybe probably the most notorious flight from Wandsworth was the escape of Nice Practice Robber Ronnie Briggs, who reduce brief a 30-year sentence when he broke out in 1965, remaining on the run till 2001.