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British nationals jailed in England and Wales could be transferred to prisons elsewhere in Europe under radical legislation announced on Monday to tackle a crisis in the penal system.
Attorney General Alex Chalk will also outline plans to release imprisoned foreign nationals earlier than currently allowed and deport them to their home countries to try to address a chronic shortage of prison space.
The minister will tell the House of Commons that he intends to introduce legislation – expected to be introduced in next month’s King’s Speech – to reform the justice system, including allowing any prisoner to be held in prisons abroad regardless of their nationality.
Government insiders confirmed preliminary talks were underway with Estonia over housing British prisoners but declined to say which other European countries had been approached.
They acknowledged the scheme could be costly – not least because the government might have to pay for families to visit relatives in prison overseas – and would only be implemented if it provided good value for money.
Chalk is expected to justify the move by looking at experiments conducted in Belgium and Norway over the past decade to house prisoners. In the Netherlands.
Labour’s shadow justice secretary Shabana Mahmood said the idea was “symbolic of the Conservative Party’s complete destruction of our criminal justice system”.
Chalke’s proposed reforms would also focus on deporting what the government calls “thousands of dangerous foreign criminals” earlier than currently allowed.
He will announce a repatriation plan that would allow foreign prisoners to be sent home 18 months before completing their sentences. Currently, they can be deported one year before the end of their sentence.
Chalke will announce that more social workers will be deployed to focus on deportations, claiming this could save £70,000 per prisoner. “Rather than letting foreigners take up space in our prisons at great cost to the law-abiding public, we will take action to remove them from the country and prevent their return,” he said.
The Ministry of Justice said “strict new conditions” would prevent them from returning to the UK.
Ministers will also seek to work with other countries on prisoner transfer deals for more serious offenders – like the one recently struck with Albania. They want more overseas criminals to serve their sentences in their home countries rather than in England and Wales, a move that could save each prisoner £47,000 a year.
The Justice Department says the prison population has seen unprecedented growth in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic and lawyers’ strike.
The government admits prisons in England and Wales are close to breaking point, with average sentences increasing by 57% since 2010, partly due to changes in sentencing rules to ensure serious offenders stay behind bars longer.
The court system’s backlog has also reached record levels. Figures published on Thursday showed that there were 65,004 cases pending at the Crown Courts of England and Wales at the end of August, a 7% increase on the same period in 2022.
Around 15,500 people are in prison awaiting trial, 6,000 more than the number on remand before the coronavirus outbreak. More offenders are behind bars this year than in previous years, exacerbating prison overcrowding.
Official figures released on October 6 showed the prison population at 88,016, just 651 below the “available operating capacity” of 88,667.
Labor said it would tackle the prison crisis by creating 20,000 more prison places, hiring more crown prosecutors to tackle the backlog and setting up tribunals to hear rape allegations.
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