Analysis: Strict conditions govern escorts of inmates from jails

The stabbing of two prison officers by armed robber Derek Brockwell – who has been captured in Belfast by the PSNI – has generated much debate about how the case was handled.

However, such incidents are very rare in a prison system with strict operating procedures for the movement of prisoners inside jails and also to locations away from prison campuses.

Brockwell had been in custody seven months by May 2013 when the Irish Prison Service came into intelligence that he may be planning to escape. He was a remand prisoner in Cloverhill Prison, west Dublin, at the time.

He had pleaded guilty the previous month to three armed robberies committed in 2012 in Dublin but was still awaiting sentencing.

Once the intelligence emerged, the Irish Prison Service altered his security status. As a matter of course, whenever he was being taken to any location outside the prison, an armed Garda escort was requested. However, when the Garda examined the requests it did not share the prison service’s concern and the armed escorts were never provided.

No armed back-up

Brockwell was escorted by prison officers with no armed back-up from the Garda on the seven subsequent occasions, before his escape on Tuesday, that Brockwell was taken from prison. These occasions were twice for court appearances and five times to hospital. All seven escorts passed off peacefully and without incident.

Prison sources stressed that it was the intelligence suggesting Brockwell may be considering trying to escape rather than any propensity for violence that resulted in the Garda escorts being requested from May 2013. By January of last year, Brockwell’s security status was downgraded, meaning the requests for an armed escort from the Garda ceased.

Prison sources said while Brockwell had threatened people with knives and guns during robberies in the UK and Ireland, he had never used the weapons. He had also never been investigated for any violent incident in prison. "We have a lot of people in jail who are there because they inflicted extreme violence on their victims; this guy was not one of them," one source said.

Within the prison system, there are a group of prisoners who are never moved anywhere without an armed escort from the Garda or Defence Forces.

These include prisoners who are senior members of major crime gangs, those with a propensity for violence and/or a history of attacking staff or other prisoners, and subversives. Brockwell did not fall into any of those categories. He was regarded as a hapless criminal with few connections on the outside.

Mini cells

When prisoners are transferred, they are placed into cellular or regular prison service vans. Cellular vehicles are especially fitted with compartments , or mini cells, with one prisoner placed into each. Each prisoner is secured with rigid handcuffs and they are also chained to a prison officer.

If they are appearing in court, they are uncuffed and unchained because defendants cannot appear in court in cuffs as it would imply guilt.

However, on any other escort, even when the rigid cuffs are removed to allow them use a toilet or attend a medical appointment, the prisoner should remain chained to one of the officers escorting them. And they should remain within the view of that officer at all times, with a cubicle door on a toilet to remain open if necessary.

Prison officers are also required to search an area, such as a toilet, that a prisoner has asked to go to while on an escort.

The inquiry into how Brockwell came into possession of the knife he used to stab the two prison officers escorting him will examine if all of those procedures were followed.