Christmas leave inmates still on the run

NINE prisoners who were granted temporary release from prison for Christmas have still not returned to complete their sentences.

The Prison Service has confirmed that the nine prisoners, none of whom are deemed to be serious criminals, are still at large more then three months after being allowed out for Christmas.

Two of the missing prisoners would already have completed their sentences if they had returned to see out the remaining months of their stay in jail. The remaining seven prisoners would all have finished their various sentences within the next few months.

One prisoner was due for release in July after serving a six-year stretch for burglary.

Four of the missing prisoners were serving their sentences in Mountjoy Prison. Two others absconded from Wheatfield Prison, two more from the Midlands Prison and the remaining prisoner went missing from Castlerea.

The men were jailed for a variety of offences, including dangerous driving, causing criminal damage, burglary, driving without insurance, assault and robbery.

The Prison Service stressed that the nine missing prisoners were the only inmates who failed to return out of the total of 285 prisoners granted temporary release last Christmas.

On any one day, up to 3% of the entire prison population can be out of prison on temporary release or compassionate leave. Nineteen prisoners failed to return from temporary release granted for Christmas 2004.

Prison Service spokesman Jim Mitchell said the gardaí had been notified of the missing prisoners and said that anyone who absconds from jail jeopardises their freedom in the longer term.

"The clock stops ticking from the moment they go unlawfully at large. When they are found, they will probably end up in Mountjoy and they could lose remission of sentence, which is at the discretion of the Governor," he said.

"They will also serve the days they missed and the remainder of their sentence."

The missing prisoners are not deemed to be a risk to public safety. Many absconders go on the run as gardaí know of their home and contact details, meaning they cannot return home for fear of being apprehended.

Just last week, two prisoners absconded from Letterkenny Courthouse in Donegal. The two men had been arrested after money had been stolen.

Judge Tom Fitzpatrick said that he had complained two days earlier about lax security at the courthouse regarding people in custody.