Eighty prison staff absent on day Daniel Khalife escaped

HMP Wandsworth is a Category B prison in south-west London

The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has insisted that Wandsworth prison was adequately staffed on the day terror suspect, Daniel Khalife, escaped.

Prisons minister, Damien Hinds, announced earlier that 80 prison officers - nearly 40% of expected staff - had not turned up for their shift.

However, officials have now issued a second statement clarifying that the majority of the absences were planned.

They said fewer than five of the 80 absences were unauthorised.

According to the department, reasons for planned absences from Wandsworth prison on 6 September included staff training, annual leave and sickness. These absences were planned for in advance by the prison governor.

A Prison Service spokesperson said: "Staffing levels at HMP Wandsworth have increased by around a quarter since 2017 and there were an appropriate number of staff on duty that day.

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Earlier the MoJ said an initial investigation into Mr Khalife's escape had not found the staffing level to be a contributing factor in the escape on 6 September.

Speaking on 10 September, Justice Secretary Alex Chalk said preliminary inquiries had determined that correct security protocols and staffing levels were in place at the time.

Prisons minister Damian Hinds said: "Overall staffing levels were above the minimum staffing level required by the prison's Regime Management Plan to deliver a safe and decent regime.

"All staff in both the kitchen and the gatehouse were on duty on 6 September."

Minimum staffing levels are set locally - the BBC has not yet been able to confirm what the minimum levels are at Wandsworth prison.

Mr Hinds also said the government had taken steps to increase the overall prison workforce, adding that the 12 months to June 2023 had seen an increase of more than 700 full-time equivalent officers.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said "in general, of course, people should turn up to work wherever they work", but the full facts needed to be established to prevent this from happening again.

The last formal inspection of Wandsworth, published last year, found staffing shortfalls "were preventing the prison from running a decent and predictable regime".

In the 12 months to March 2023, Wandsworth lost an average of 20 working days per worker to sickness absence - the sixth highest of the 106 prisons in England and Wales that submitted data.

The figure was also 54% higher than the average (13 days) of all the prisons that submitted data and substantially higher than the UK average, which was 6 days in 2022.

Andrea Albutt, president of the Prison Governors Association, told the BBC's World at One that prisons were "a very stressful environment" leading to high levels of staff sickness.

"In some of our prisons it does border on being quite dangerous," she added.

Initial figures published by the government in response to a question from local Labour MP Dr Rosena Allin-Khan revealed that Wandsworth prison has regularly operated with between 36% and 48% expected staff missing.

Staff surveys reported that less than 64% of expected staff turned up to work on the last day of the month for 11 out of the last 12 months. The highest reported level of staffing was 81%, recorded on a weekend when the number of staff on rota is usually lower.

The disclosures come on the day details of an independent investigation into the prison escape have been published.

It will be headed by Keith Bristow, a former director-general of the National Crime Agency and chief constable of Warwickshire Police.

Mr Khalife was arrested on a canal towpath in west London on 9 September after being pulled off a bicycle by a plain-clothes counter-terrorism officer.

The MoJ said the probe would look into the rules at HMP Wandsworth and how Mr Khalife might have got the tools he needed to escape.

Staffing levels and an assessment of security measures, such as checks relating to the delivery lorries, will also be looked at.

A report will be submitted to Mr Chalk and the head civil servant at the MoJ.

Meanwhile, the Justice Committee has launched an inquiry into the prison population and capacity of current prisons.