Escape from open prison

AN escaped convict who went on a joyriding rampage in Dublin and injured a mother and child was transferred to an open prison although he had despite having previously absconded from custody.

The 39-year-old man had also been caught with possession of prohibited articles in prison, including a weapon in November 2000.

In spite of his record, the west Dublin man was deemed suitable for transfer to the open prison in Shelton Abbey, Co Dublin, on November 14, 2001.

According to a prison source, the Clondalkin man absconded within seconds of arriving there.

"Obviously the public interest has to be looked at and screening has to be carried out on any inmate before they are sent to an open prison. There doesn't seem to be much screening with this guy," he said.

On Monday the middle-aged joyrider left a mother and child injured in a 45-minute trail of destruction across Dublin city.

He stole two cars, smashed into two other vehicles, attempted to ram garda patrol cars, reversed back into a garda motorcyclist and attempted to hijack another car before being arrested by gardaí in Blackrock.

The man was returned to Shelton Abbey and gardaí are preparing files for the DPP.

A Prison Service spokesman said the man would be immediately transferred to a secure prison to serve the remaining five months of his sentence and to await whatever charges may be brought against him.

Yesterday it emerged that he was moved between seven different prisons after being convicted in October 2000 for allowing himself to be carried in a stolen car.

He was transferred to Mountjoy Jail on January 9, 2001, to Cork Prison on January 10 and back to Mountjoy on February 13.

The man, who also has convictions for larceny and handling stolen property, escaped while on temporary release from Mountjoy on February 15 and remained at large until March 13.

He was transferred to the high security Portlaoise Prison on May 13 and on July 18 sent back to Mountjoy. The following day he was transferred to Wheatfield Prison in Clondalkin.

He was given compassionate temporary release on September 22, 2001 and overnight temporary release on October 19. On both occasions he honoured the release and returned to prison.

A Prison Service spokesman said they would be looking at profiling procedures to determine which prisoners are fit to be transferred to an open prison in preparation for release.

"Clearly the key issue is the profiling of the prisoner prior to being sent to an open prison," he said.

"Any prison system that would aspire to rehabilitation for prisoners would include an opportunity in the final part of their sentence to transfer to open prison," he said. "But at the end of the day there's no foolproof system of selecting those prisoners. But generally speaking we adopt a fairly conservative approach."

Figures show that 75 prisoners absconded in 1999 and 2000 from Shelton Abbey, the likely future home of convicted killer Malcolm Macarthur and that 57 of these returned.