Dozens of prisoners were moved from HMP Wandsworth after the escape of terror suspect Daniel Khalife, the justice secretary has said.
Alex Chalk told the BBC “approximately” 40 inmates were transferred this week, following questions about whether the 21-year-old should have been held on remand at the Category B jail.
But the minister said “relevant security protocols” had been in place.
Mr Khalife is in police custody after being arrested in north-west London.
He was held by a plain-clothed officer on a canal towpath in Northolt following a four-day manhunt.
The justice secretary says preliminary investigations into the escape from Wandsworth prison have determined that correct security protocols and staffing levels were in place at the time.
But speaking to the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, he said: “The real question is whether the protocols were followed to the extent they should be.”
Mr Chalk said he had asked for two reviews into the matter, one around the circumstances and another about prison categorisation. He has also ordered an independent investigation into the incident.
Earlier Mr Chalk told Sky News: “Out of an abundance of caution some prisoners there, some of those on remand, have been moved.
“Additional resources have of course gone into Wandsworth, so there’s additional governor support, a former governor with particular expertise in security.
“But also… around 40 prisoners have been moved just while we get to the bottom of what took place in Wandsworth. That is a sensible, precautionary measure.”
The Met Police said Mr Khalife had been arrested on suspicion of being unlawfully at large and being an escaped prisoner.
He was at Wandsworth prison pending a trial in November.
Mr Khalife is accused of trying to spy for an enemy state, understood to be Iran, obtaining information likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism, and plotting a fake bomb hoax.
Police had offered a reward of up to £20,000 for information leading to his arrest and detectives said they had received more than 100 calls from people offering information. The reward has not been claimed yet.
Elsewhere, the Mail on Sunday reports claims from security sources that Mr Khalife was apprehended after spies from the UK’s new intelligence nerve centre, made up of agents from MI5, MI6, and specialist police, bugged the phones of people they believed were linked to him.
BBC
