The treatment of detainees at Haslar has been criticised

The details were disclosed under the Freedom of Information Act.

In a report published last year, prison inspectors repeated a recommendation they had made two years earlier for surveillance cameras to be installed.

A Home Office spokesman said he did not regard the number of escapes at Haslar as "high".

Haslar holds about 120 immigration detainees which include failed asylum seekers, illegal entrants and overstayers who are due to be removed from the UK.

Between August 2002 and May last year, 13 detainees escaped - nine of whom are still at large.

The figures also showed that there have been 19 attempted escapes in five years.

Last year, an inspection report concluded that there were "significant failings" at Haslar, with the need for an "improved, safe and decent physical environment".