Provisions to transfer UK prisoners to foreign prisons to be debated by MPs

The Prison Reform Trust has prepared a briefing to assist MPs in the House of Commons report stage of the Criminal Justice Bill. The briefing focuses on key amendments to clauses 33-35, which introduce provisions for the transfer of prisoners to foreign prisons.

The briefing also supports New Clause 28 tabled by Kim Johnson MP which clarifies complicity in joint enterprise cases.

Proposals to transfer prisoners to foreign prisons was announced by Alex Chalk in October 2023 at the Conservative party conference as a measure to mitigate the prison capacity crisis. He subsequently announced a range of further emergency measures both to increase capacity and reduce demand on the system.

PRT supported the introduction of emergency measures as a necessary response to dangerous and growing levels of overcrowding. However, we are not convinced by the measures in this bill as an answer to the capacity crisis.

Examples of where similar policies have been implemented by other countries to relieve problems of overcrowded and limited capacity have shown mixed results.

The provisions also raise questions regarding the parity of regime prisoners will enjoy including access to healthcare and family visits.

They also raise human rights concerns including over which disciplinary authority and criminal jurisdiction would apply in relation to alleged acts of torture or ill-treatment which may be committed by prison staff, as well access of monitoring mechanisms, and investigatory competencies in cases of such allegations.