Prisoners: Repatriation

Justice written question – answered at on 16 June 2014.

Alert me about debates like this

Photo of Sadiq Khan Sadiq Khan Shadow Minister (London), Shadow Lord Chancellor and Shadow Secretary of State for Justice, Shadow Lord Chancellor and Shadow Secretary of State for Justice

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice with which countries and on what dates the UK has (a) signed and (b) ratified prisoner transfer agreements (i) between May 1997 and May 2010 and (ii) since May 2010.

Photo of Jeremy Wright Jeremy Wright The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice

The information is as follows:

Table 1: Prisoner Transfer Arrangements (PTAs) signed between May 1997 and May 2010
Country Date of signature Date came into force Voluntary or Compulsory Agreement (i.e. consent of prisoner required or not)
Antigua and Barbuda 23 June 2003 20 January 2004 Voluntary
Barbados 3 April 2002 2 March 2003 Voluntary
Brazil 20 August 1998 11 December 2001 Voluntary
Cuba 13 June 2002 2 July 2003 Voluntary
Commonwealth of Dominica 2 May 2006 1 Voluntary
Dominican Republic 18 February 2003 1 Voluntary
Ghana 17 July 2008 17 July 2008 Voluntary
Hong Kong SAR 5 November 1997 19 March 1998 Voluntary
India 18 February 2005 21 November 2005 Voluntary
Jamaica 26 June 2007 1 Voluntary
Laos 7 May 2009 25 September 2009 Voluntary
Lesotho (provisionally applied on signature) 6 June 2007 1 Voluntary
Libya 17 November 2008 29 April 2009 Compulsory
Morocco 21 February 2002 1 July 2013 Voluntary
Nicaragua 6 September 2005 1 Voluntary
Pakistan 24 August 2007 19 August 2008 Voluntary
Peru 7 March 2003 11 September 2003 Voluntary
Rwanda 11 February 2010 23 November 2010 Compulsory
St. Lucia 27 April 2006 17 June 2008 Voluntary
Sri Lanka 6 February 2003 24 March 2004 Voluntary
Suriname 29 June 2002 1 Voluntary
Uganda 12 September 2008 1 Voluntary
Venezuela 12 June 2012 15 April 2003 Voluntary
Vietnam 12 September 2008 20 September 2009 Voluntary
1 Not in force.
Table 2: Prisoner Transfer Arrangements (PTAs) signed May 2010 to date
Country Date of signature Date came into force Voluntary or Compulsory Agreement (i.e. consent of prisoner or not)
Albania 15 January 2013 11 June 2013 Compulsory
Nigeria 9 January 2014 1 Compulsory
Saudi Arabia 2 January 2012 2 July 2012 Voluntary
Somaliland (Memorandum of Understanding rather than a PTA) 16 April 2014 16 April 2014 Compulsory
United Arab Emirates 24 January 2013 2 February 2014 Voluntary
1 Not in force—Nigerian PTA will shortly be in force. We are awaiting final exchange of diplomatic notes. First transfers are expected by the end of this calendar year (2014).

In addition to the bilateral prisoner transfer arrangements listed above the United Kingdom became a party to the following multi-party arrangements:

The Additional Protocol to the Council of Europe Convention on the Transfer of Sentenced Persons

Signed: 9 February 2009 Entered into Force: 1 November 2009

Council Framework Decision 2008/909/JHA of the 27 November 2008 on the application of the principle of mutual recognition to judgments in criminal matters imposing custodial sentences or measures involving deprivation of liberty for the purpose of their enforcement in the European Union

Adopted: 27 November 2008 Entered into force: 5 December 2011

All foreign national offenders sentenced to custody are referred to the Home Office for them to consider deportation at the earliest possible opportunity.

The Prisoner Transfer process is just one mechanism for removing Foreign National Offenders. The number of FNOs deported under the Early Removal Scheme (ERS) has increased under this Government. In 2013, we removed nearly 2,000 FNOs under ERS and under the Tariff Expired Removal Scheme (TERS), which we introduced in May 2012, we have removed over 240 FNOs to date.

Whereas this Government have begun to reduce the foreign national population in prison since 2010, between 1997 and 2010, the number of foreign nationals in our prisons more than doubled.

Does this answer the above question?

Yes0 people think so

No0 people think not

Would you like to ask a question like this yourself? Use our Freedom of Information site.