A dramatic prison break in London

Recently, a dramatic incident occurred in an English prison. Two prisoners in HMP Pentonville, a gigantic prison in London, deliberately escaped.

International Business Times: Two men escape from Pentonville prison after 'leaving mannequins on beds'

The prison has approximately a total of 12,000 prisoners. The escaped prisoners seemed to use a diamond cutter to get rid of the fence. More surprisingly, mannequins were left to mimic the prisoners in their beds.

There are some incidents of absconding in this prison. In general, the risk of absconding is highest during bringing prisoners to another facility, such as a hospital. But, this case occurred in the prison cell itself. Considering the fact they prepared mannequins, the escape was probable to have been seriously planned.

Similar incidents are extremely rare in Japan. It is not due to the excellence of Japanese officer. In Japan, prisoners are seldom allowed to get out of the prison in term of their incarceration. The liberty of prisoners is accepted with far more degree in the UK than in Japan.

On the other hand, in recent years, the UK government reduced the number of officials working in prisons for the financial reason. It led to an increasing suicidal case of prisoners, according to some researchers.  The present incident may be relevant to the lowered care and supervision quality in prison, I suspect.

I hope the prisoners will be caught soon before they commit more crimes.