Coronavirus: Prisoner freed as part of Covid-19 early release plan disappeared

A prisoner who was granted early release due to coronavirus fears subsequently disappeared, the News Letter has learned.

Michael Skillen, a prisoner at HMP Maghaberry, vanished on April 10 after being freed under what is known as a ‘Rule 27 application’.

This generally means compassionate leave to visit sick family, but in this case Rule 27 seems to have been used as part of a bid to reduce the number of prisoners due to the risk of Covid-19 spreading in jail.

The slim, 5ft 6in prisoner, who is aged 31, was in jail in connection with possession of class A, B and C drugs, driving whilst disqualified, and other non-specific motoring offences.

After being “unlawfully at large” for a fortnight, he was taken back into custody on April 24.

The news has only now emerged after inquiries from the News Letter.

The DoJ said: “Following his temporary early release as part of the scheme introduced in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, Michael Skillen was posted as unlawfully at large after a breach of his conditions.”

Asked how many prisoners have been freed early amid Covid-19 concerns, the Department for Justice said “142 prisoners have been temporarily released”.

It is understood Skillen is the only one to date who had disappeared.

At the start of the crisis there were around 1,050 sentenced prisoners in Northern Ireland, and another roughly 470 who were held on remand, with many prisoners ‘doubled up’ (sharing cells) due to overcrowding.

The DoJ gave no further details of how Skillen was found again.

On March 30, Justice Minister Naomi Long said: “The developing public health emergency caused by the worldwide coronavirus pandemic is causing us to consider measures that only a few weeks ago would have been unthinkable.

“One such measure is the temporary early release of some sentenced prisoners.”

She went on to add that life sentence prisoners will not be part of the scheme, nor will domestic violence perpetrators, terrorists, killers, people who committed ‘hate crimes’, or people who had used offensive weapons to commit an offence.

The Department of Justice currently lists another six prisoners as being “unlawfully at large”.

The most recent is Wesley Brennan, who vanished in January 2018.

Under ‘offence’, the Department of Justice lists two breaches of a community-based order, six counts of fraud, 11 counts of theft, and driving while disqualified.

The prisoner missing for the longest is Brendan McGuinness, a teenager who vanished from Hydebank in May 2002 (with ‘offence’ listed simply as ‘drugs offences’).

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