Locks replaced at four prisons after keys are lost

Four prisons have had to replace all their locks because officers have lost crucial keys, ministers have admitted.

The blunders cost the taxpayer a third of a million pounds in the past three years as locksmiths were called in to prevent mass escapes.

In the last three years almost 140 sets of keys have been lost in total, ranging from the prison gates to handcuffs.

Sadiq Khan, the shadow justice secretary who obtained the figures, said: “I’ve heard of locking up prisoners and throwing away the keys, but losing the keys is ridiculous.

“This is breathtaking incompetence of the highest order and is money the taxpayer can ill afford to waste.”

Since 2010, four jails had to be “relocked” after vital keys were lost.

The errors cost £79,525 to put right at the category B Swaleside jail on the Isle of Sheppey in Kent and £173,608 to replace locks at the Glen Parva young offenders institution in Leicestershire.

A further £84,418 had to be spent at Warren Hill young offenders institution in Suffolk.

The fourth jail, HMP Birmingham, cost £415,276 to have its locks replaced but that bill was met by G4S, which runs the category B jail.

The Prison Service insisted no prisoner escaped as a result of the blunders and minister Jeremy Wright added: “Following these incidents vigilance at the prisons was increased regarding key security and events that may lead to a prison needing to be relocked.”

Figures also showed that since 2010 there have been 136 cases of lost keys reported by prisons, including those to gates, cells, handcuffs and escort chains.

Andrew Neilson, Director of Campaigns at the Howard League for Penal Reform, said: ‘With budgets dwindling year on year, the Prison Service can ill – afford spending hundreds of thousands of pounds on changing the locks in our jails.

‘Prisons are overcrowded, the staff who work there are overstretched, and this is money that could be better spent on alternatives to custody, such as community sentences.’

A Prison Service spokesperson said: ‘Incidents like this are extremely rare. We always investigate them thoroughly and update our security measures accordingly.’

Chris Grayling, the Justice Secretary, announced earlier this week that some of Britain's most historic jails are to be shut as part of a modernisation programme.

They include the Berkshire prison which inspired Oscar Wilde's The Ballad of Reading Gaol after he was imprisoned there in 1895.

The Ministry of Justice said £30 million a year would be saved.