UK mulls repatriating prisoners to own countries
The UK government is considering sending criminals to their own countries, due to overcrowded prisons.
The Independent reports justice secretary Alex Chalk as saying the overcrowding in prisons was at a “dangerous” level.
Chalk, speaking at the Conservative Party conference, said the changes will help the government “lock up the most dangerous offenders for longer where that is necessary to protect the public”.
“This government is doing more than any since the Victorian era to expand prison capacity,” he said.
“I can tell you today that we also intend to look at the Norwegian example and explore renting overseas capacity,” Mr Chalk said.
The policy, if enacted, would follow those of some European countries including Norway and Belgium, which saw hundreds of prisoners sent to the Netherlands.
Norway rented prison cells from the Netherlands under a “Norgerhaven” agreement which saw 650 prisoners sent to the country between 2015 and 2018.
And Belgium sent as many as 650 prisoners to the Netherlands between 2010 and 2016 under a similar scheme.
In September, Britain’s prison population grew by 665, more than the number of prisoners who were sent from Belgium to the Netherlands over six years.
A source close to the justice secretary said the proposals were at an “early stage” and there were no details of how much the plans would cost, where prisoners would be sent or how many prisoners would be jailed abroad.
Labour MP Karl Turner, a former shadow justice secretary, said the announcement was a “damning indictment of this tired out, dishonest and utterly incompetent Tory government”.
He said most male prisons are beyond full capacity and questioned what would happen to those having to appear before court on fresh charges or for other legal proceedings.
“This government has broken our criminal justice system, I’m only surprised they haven’t rented hotel rooms,” he said.
