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Polish inmates languishing in UK jails face being sent back home in bid to free up prison space
14 November 2024, 08:15 | Updated: 14 November 2024, 08:33
Britain will today hold talks on a new prison transfer deal with Poland to free up more spaces in our jam-packed jails, LBC can reveal.
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Justice minister Lord Ponsonby will today fly out to sign a new memorandum of understanding with Poland on criminal justice and demonstrate support for the rule of law.
Government sources have told LBC the Ministry of Justice will also use today's meeting to explore the possibility of an Albanian-style prisons transfer deal, which could see Polish offenders serve their sentences abroad.
The previous Albanian deal planned to see 200 Albanian nationals in prisons in England and Wales serving sentences of four years or more sent back to see out the remainder of their terms in Albanian prisons.
Government in talks with Poland on prisons transfer deal
Cash was also intended to go towards helping to modernise prisons in Albania.
It's understood around 30 have been sent there so far.
Poland has not been keen to secure a beefed up agreement in the past, but there are hopes changes in Government on both sides could provide a fresh look at the issue.
The UK has 110 prisoner transfer agreements with other countries - but some are compulsory and others require the prisoner’s consent.
It could see Britain replicating a similar deal to the £4million agreement signed with Albania - where the UK government paid £30 a day for offenders to serve the rest of their sentences abroad.
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There are more than 10,500 foreign offenders serving time behind bars in the UK – 12 per cent of the prison population – and it costs costing £40,000 a year per inmate to keep them inside.
One government source said: "It's no secret our prisons are jam packed and it's right we look at all options to free up space, including getting rid of as many foreign offenders as we can."
Another insider said: “We have a template ready to go with the Albania deal – and even if we paid them like under that deal, it would be still cheaper than doing it here.”
The top nationality for foreign offenders serving time in British jails is Albania, which makes up around one in fifty offenders, with 1,200, followed by Poland – with around 850 prisoners - and Romania, with 750.
But insiders warned it would not be a quick fix to solve Britain’s prisons crisis.
The move comes after ministers gave the green light for two sets of early release of offenders earlier this year which saw 2,800 prisoners released – blaming the Tory inheritance for failing to tackle the issue.
It’s expected that capacity could run out again in the middle of next year, and officials are worried about the sentencing of some of those caught up in last summer's riots across the UK, which are expected to go to court in the new year.
The sentencing review – led by former Justice Secretary David Gauke – is expected to look at a string of options to increase capacity.
Punishment outside of prison must be expanded, says Justice Secretary
One option on the table which ministers are looking at is the scrapping of short term sentences of under six months or a year – previously floated under the Tories but quietly ditched.
And the Justice Secretary wants to toughen up community sentences and use more technology and tagging as alternatives to prison.
Texas-style reforms where prisoners could reduce their sentences for good behaviour, and looking again at shorter sentences for female offenders, are also on the cards.
It will report back to ministers in mid-spring.
