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British taxpayers are to fund a prison building programme in poor countries such as Nigeria and Jamaica so more foreign inmates languishing in British jails can be sent home, David Cameron announced yesterday.
The Prime Minister admitted that too many foreign prisoners remained in this country and said ‘helping to build prisons in their own country’ would ensure more were kicked out.
Despite promises to cut the number of foreign inmates behind bars in Britain, the numbers have increased in recent years.
David Cameron argued that helping improve prisons abroad could mean that more foreign prisoners in the UK can be sent back homeMinisters have struggled to remove even hardened criminals because jails abroad are overflowing or do not comply with human rights laws.
By paying for building new jails or making existing ones more ‘comfortable’ so they approach British standards it is hoped more will be repatriated.
But sending money abroad to lock up prisoners there, in addition to the billions spent in foreign aid, while budgets are being cut at home, will prove highly controversial.
Mr Cameron made his comments during a ‘Cameron Direct’ event on the local elections campaign trail in Carlisle.
He said: ‘When people are sent to prison in the UK we should do everything we can to make sure that if they’re foreign nationals, they are sent back to their country to serve their sentence in a foreign prison.
‘And I’m taking action in Government to say look we have strong relationships with all of the countries where these people come from.
‘Many are coming from Jamaica, many from Nigeria, many from other countries in Asia.
(Stock image) Prisons in poorer countries can fail to meet human rights standards and can be overcrowded‘We should be using all of the influence we have to sign prisoner transfer agreements with those countries. Even if necessary frankly helping them to build prisons in their own country so we can send the prisoners home.
‘I’m going to be setting out a programme of how we do that, country by country by country. Because it is not good enough, the situation we have in Britain today.’
Since 2010 there has been a sharp fall in the number of serious criminals sent home.
That year, 5,342 were deported. The following year – the first full 12 months of coalition Government – the figure was down 13 per cent to 4,649.
In the first nine months of 2012 some 3,382 were deported – suggesting the annual total would fall even further.
There are now 10,861 foreign inmates in British jails, who now make up around 14 per cent of the prison population. Each costs an average of around £40,000 a year to keep inside.
Entire prisons have been handed over to the immigration estate to keep inside prolific offenders after the end of their sentence, and every month around 110 are released out on to the streets.
More than two years ago Mr Cameron pledged to ‘intervene personally’ in the issue, but there has been little progress.
There are more prisoners from Jamaica (pictured) than any other foreign nationality, followed by Poland and Ireland.This week the Mail revealed hundreds of foreign criminals could be given cautions instead of jail if they agree to leave the country for at least five years.
Yesterday Mr Cameron hailed a transfer agreement with EU countries designed to send more home.
He said that as a result of the deal ‘those prisoners should be sent back to the country of their origin to serve out their sentence in prison therefore taking the cost away from us.’
But the Mail revealed that as of December last year, not a single inmate from another EU country has been sent back to their homeland.
Risibly, the two countries with the most inmates in Britain – Poland and Ireland – were given opt-outs by the previous Labour government.
And Britain has been sent two prisoners by other countries – meaning the deal has actually increased our ‘United Nations’ prison population.
Jamaicans top the nationality table, with 900 last year, followed by Poland on 750, and Ireland 737. There are 594 Nigerians.
