At least that’s the view of Glyn Travis, the assistant general secretary of the Prison Officers’ Association.

He cited a security breach at the low-security, category C Everthorpe prison near Brough, in East Yorkshire, where he said ladders were used to scale the fence and drugs and phones were delivered to inmates by members of the public.

“These were prisoners who have a history of escaping from lawful custody, and the prisoners did not take the opportunity or plan to escape because, we believe, life is so cushy in the prison system,” Source: The Guardian.

If we must use anecdotal evidence, then you could say that perhaps they didn’t escape, as prisoners were keen to avoid longer jail term on recapture. On the other hand, how about a differing statistic – the Ministry of Justice reports there were 92 self-inflicted deaths in prisons in England and Wales in 2007 compared to 67 in 2006 (or a 37% increase if I wanted to be more dramatic), perhaps from this I could infer how harsh prison is. In the end, let’s leave anecdotal evidence alone.