Violent criminals still being sent to open prisons to ease overcrowding

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Eighteen offenders, including men guilty of robbery, GBH and domestic violence, were wrongly transferred this month alone, according to a dossier sent to ministers by the National Association of Probation Officers.

Conservatives have accused the Government of showing "a complete disregard for the public's safety" by using open prisons to ease overcrowding in higher-security prisons.

In October last year, the then Home Secretary John Reid announced that "maximum flexibility" would be exercised in transfers to open prisons in a bid to combat overcrowding.

Since then police have been forced to issue a series of warnings about dangerous criminals, including murderers, on the run from such institutions.

Killer Raymond Alvin Kennedy, serving an indeterminate sentence for kicking and beating a vagrant to death in 1991, was recaptured on Christmas Eve after three months on the run.

And two convicted robbers and a man jailed for causing death by dangerous driving disappeared from Prescoed prison in Monmouthshire, South Wales, earlier this month.

Tory justice spokesman Edward Garnier said: "Open prisons should not be used to cover up the Government's serial incompetence in running the prison estate."