   Sunday, January 02, 2011  Brought to Justice  Crispin Blunt,
the prisons minister, whose name sounds like a character from a
Restoration comedy, tells us that the rioters in HMP Ford "must
be brought to justice".  Presumeably he means they must be sent
back to prison to continue drinking and rioting.  I once dealt
with an absconder from another open prison, who we arrested on
the streets of Blandmore following a fortuitous person check by
a PCSO.  The paperwork faxed through from  Leyhill contained the
following phrases: "The prison is surrounded by a low three foot
wall that can be easily jumped" and "the prisoners know they are
not allowed to jump the wall".  This useful information enabled
us to interview and charge the absconder, who was shipped off to
a higher security prison pending his removal back to Leyhill
once he was due to be released soon again.   The above link
informs us that Leyhill is home to 532 prisoners, 110 of whom
are "lifers".  The only thing that a life sentence is given out
for in