Around half the prisoners who escaped from an open jail are still on the run.

Of the 62 inmates who absconded from HMP Ford in the last six months at least 30 are still free according to the Home Office.

During March alone at least 12 inmates fled the prison, according to MPs.

It is the latest in a long line of poor figures concerning HMP Ford to be released by the Government and brings the total number of absconds throughout 2006 and 2007 to at least 300.

Arundel and South Downs MP Nick Herbert has called the abscond rate "abysmal" and called for more urgent reform of HMP Ford, particularly concerning the category and type of prisoner being held.

The figures also come after Prisons Minister Gerry Sutcliffe visited the jail, near Arundel, and promised more information about escaped prisoners would be made public in the future.

The prison's governor Fiona Radford and Mr Sutcliffe have agreed to publish a quarterly update on abscond rates and other data from the jail after Mrs Radford admitted that abscond rates were easily and regularly collated.

Arundel and South Downs MP Nick Herbert said: "Mr Sutcliffe has now seen for himself that the information is available. There is no longer any excuse for not publishing it.

"Ford has an abysmal abscond rate and many of those leaving in the past are foreign prisoners due for deportation or those convicted of serious offences.

"However I was grateful to the minister for coming to visit the prison.

"I hope that he is beginning to realise that there is a problem, particularly having heard it from the prisoners themselves."

The Home Office has still refused to reveal what crime those who had escaped recently had committed but it is understood that a proportion are those convicted of serious offences, including burglary and violent crime.

Local councillors were also told during Mr Sutcliffe's visit that there are no current plans to build a category C jail on land at Ford, to house up to 500 inmates.

There had been fears the new jail would be built after a leaked memo revealed that the site had been earmarked as a potential way of reducing overcrowding in other jails.

Mrs Radlciffe claimed that the overall abscond rate at Ford is falling and the Home Office has blamed the high figures during 2006 and 2007 on overcrowding at other jails.

A spokesman said: "Overcrowding is an issue in prisons across the country and in some cases may mean prisoners who are judged to be at higher risk of absconding are sent to open jails.

"But in those cases they are prisoners who are usually coming towards the tail end of their sentences are at the stage of being rehabilitated back into the community."