Row over escaped prisoner figures

The number of escaped prisoners is on the increase

The government has been attacked by the Conservatives for refusing to reveal how many escaped prisoners remain at large.

Official figures show the number of prisoners absconding is on the rise, with over 1,200 escaping last year.

Shadow minister Cheryl Gillan said it was "unacceptable" the government would not reveal the total on the loose.

However the Home Office says it would be too expensive to reveal how many prisoners have been recaptured.

There are currently around 75,000 prisoners in England and Wales.

'Complacent approach'

Ms Gillan accused Tony Blair's government of failing to protect the public.

She said: "It is totally unacceptable that thousands of prisoners escape.

"It is even worse that the government will not say how many of these prisoners are recaptured.

"It is bad enough that Labour's answer to prison overcrowding is to let prisoners out early.

"But this complacent approach to abscondees is totally unacceptable."

The number of prisoners missing has shot up in the last year, according to figures revealed to Ms Gillian in a Parliamentary answer.

The numbers of abscondees leapt from 819 in 2002 to 1,238 in 2003. By October this year, 806 had already gone missing.

Shadow home secretary David Davis said: "Seven years after Tony Blair boasted of Labour's 'constructive' prison regime, his prisons policy is a shambles - this shows why."

The Home Office responded saying the cost of calculating the number of prisoners at large would be too expensive.

A spokesperson told BBC News that information on the recapture of escaped prisoners is held centrally, but to collate it would take a substantial amount of time.

The cost involved would exceed the monetary limit for answering parliamentary questions, he said.

The Home Office added it had made significant improvements on prison escapes.

A spokesman said there had been no category A escapes since 1995 and the government was working hard to improve risk assessment procedures.