Forty three prisoners escaped or absconded from jail over the past four years – only two remain at large

Forty three prisoners, including criminals serving time for kidnapping, robbery, threats to murder, and homicide offences have escaped or absconded from jail over the past four years.

However, of all those who made a run for it, forty-one have been returned to custody and only two of them remain unaccounted for.

The Irish Prison Service said that between 2018 and 2021, eight prisoners had escaped from closed prisons, or while they were on a prison escort, appearing in court, or during a hospital or medical appointment.

All eight of them have been recaptured however and were returned to prison to serve the rest of their sentence.

Another 35 prisoners absconded from the country’s two low-security ‘open’ prisons, Loughan House in Co Cavan and Shelton Abbey in Co Wicklow.