Grayling: 'Difficult to justify' open conditions

It is difficult to "justify" why an inmate with a history of absconding was placed in open conditions, Justice Secretary Chris Grayling has said.

Arnold Pickering, 44, from Greater Manchester, went on the run for the third time when he failed to return to Kennet Prison in Liverpool on Saturday.

Mr Grayling explained that the system would be tightened up within the next month.

But Guardian columnist Erwin Jones said that if more restrictions continued to be placed on prisoners, the UK was in danger of "alienating" them from society,

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4's Today programme on Monday 19 May.