Thirty five prisoners who have escaped from an open jail over the past four years are still on the run.

The lags are at large after absconding from HMP Ford, near Arundel - dubbed HMP Butlins by critics.

The figures, released by the Ministry of Justice, show four men who escaped from Ford between April 2004 and April 2005 remain at large.

A further 14 who ran off between the same period for 2005 and 2006, 13 in 2006 and 2007 and four so far in 2007 and 2008 are still lying low.

Arundel and South Downs MP Nick Herbert said: "The fact 35 prisoners who have absconded are still at large is appalling."

Overall, there are more absconders from HMP Ford who remain at large than from any other British jail.

While the record has attracted criticism from some quarters, Ford governor Fiona Radford has dismissed suggestions her jail is one of the slackest in the country.

She pointed to league tables showing Ford has a roughly average abscond rate compared with other jails its size.

Another table shows that abscond rates have dropped steadily since 2003, with the most recent figures showing 27 inmates have fled since August 2007.

However critics have again raised the issue of overcrowding in British jails, with the Home Office Independent Monitoring Board (IMB) admitting that HMP Ford is now increasingly seen as a "holding centre".

With the prison population reaching a record high of 82,180 last week, prisoners on End of Custody Licence are being sent to Ford, and other open jails, to ease overcrowding.

The board also agreed that Ford was one of the most under-funded in the country and demanded an urgent review of its financial situation.

Mr Herbert said: "It's bad enough that prisoners are walking out of Ford at the rate of one a week.

"That's on top of the 282 that have been released early by this Government."

Mrs Radford said: "The Prison Service has significantly improved its record on escapes over the last ten years and there have been no Category A escapes since 1995.

"The Prison Service works hard to prevent any abscond or escape from custody.

"Those that do occur are always fully investigated.

"Where a prisoner is put in open conditions, it inevitably involves putting an element of trust in a prisoner, and unfortunately some prisoners do abuse that trust. The categorisation is reviewed regularly."

The news comes after the Tories announced new plans to pay prisons for reducing reoffending.

The party also said it wants to raise jail places to above 100,000.

Labour has criticised the move saying it is ill-thought out and not costed.

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