ALL foreign prisoners at Ford Open Prison in West Sussex were removed in a swift night-time operation by up to 100 police.

The Prison Service launched the move after it was revealed 11 foreign inmates had walked out since the beginning of May.

Among the absconders is Jamaican drug dealer Ransford James Baker, who was facing deportation.

Fearing more escapes, officers moved the remaining 141 foreign prisoners to closed jails.

The Home Office ordered the move because five foreign prisoners due for deportation had absconded from the open prison near Arundel since last weekend.

Roads around the prison were closed during yesterday's 1am operation. Inmates taken away are being assessed on their risk of escape after being placed in more secure jails.

Prison Service chief executive Phil Wheatley said he did not know how many of the 11 who walked out of Ford this month have been recaptured.

He added: "Ford Prison has seen a sudden surge of absconding by foreign nationals.

"The other prisons where we are holding foreign nationals have not seen any abscond.

"So it is a Ford problem and we are dealing with it decisively.

"I was not prepared to keep that rate of absconding."

A Home Office spokesman said: "The operation follows a review carried out by senior Prison Service managers who have been closely monitoring the situation at Ford for the past week.

"The prisoners are all being returned to closed conditions. They will be fully and rigorously risk-assessed before any decision is made on the level of security they require.

"This operation is not being repeated in any other open prisons and there are no plans to do so.

"There has been no indication of a higher rate of absconds by foreign national prisoners in any other open prison."

Foreign prisoners who are assessed as low risk will be returned to open jails, he said.

The move came as the Home Office desperately tried to grapple with the continuing foreign prisoners scandal.

Earlier this week, new Home Secretary John Reid set a deadline of 100 days to sort out the system that had failed to deport 1,019 foreign prisoners.

He vowed to do "whatever it takes" to make the public feel safe.

But in the days following his tough talking, there were a series of walkouts by foreign prisoners at Ford.

There are no reports of any foreign inmates having absconded from other open prisons since May 1, the Prison Service said.

A total of 108 prisoners have absconded from Ford since March 2005. The Home Office was unable to say how many had been recaptured.

High-profile recent prisoners at Ford have included Learco Chindamo, 25, who murdered headteacher Philip Lawrence in 1995.

Chindamo's mother is from the Phillipines and previous Home Secretaries have tried unsuccessfully to have him deported.

He was not one of the 141 inmates removed yesterday as he had already been moved.

Mr Wheatley added: "We have to use open prisons because those are the prisons that I've got to run. I cannot make new prisons.

Constituency MP Nick Herbert said the problems at Ford appeared worse than first feared and he has written to the Home Secretary accusing the Prison Service of trying to cover up the situation regarding foreign prisoners in open prisons.