Sex offenders and violent criminals are not deported because of the risk to the public in their homelands.
A
report by the National Offender Management Service (NOMS) said there
was no guarantee former prisoners would be supervised if they were
allowed to live overseas.
Instead, taxpayers are
being left to count the cost of keeping the ex-jailbirds in the UK to
see if there is a chance of them reoffending.
The
report has been backed by Digby Griffith, director of NOMS, and Sarah
Payne, director of NOMS in Wales. It said: “An offender is required to
spend a suitable period of time in the community in the UK and Islands
before they can be considered for resettlement overseas.
“This
is to allow enough time to have passed in order to assess the
offender’s likelihood of reoffending and compliance with requirements in
the community.”
The report added: “It would not
be appropriate to allow an offender on licence who poses a high risk of
violent and/or sexual re-offending to resettle outside the UK where
they would be unsupervised, as it would undermine the protection of the
public.”
“Taxpayers will see this as lunacy”
Jonathan Isaby, chief executive of the Taxpayers’ Alliance
The report said that prisoners should be directly transferred abroad after leaving prison only in “exceptional circumstances”.
It
added: “In general, this approach should be limited to those offenders
who have been approved for early release on compassionate grounds, or
where the Parole Board have approved this as part of the offender’s
resettlement plan.”
The Secretary of State is able to rubber-stamp
a move abroad for newly-released prisoners subject to their licence or
post-sentence supervision.
Jonathan Isaby, chief executive of the Taxpayers’ Alliance, has criticised the report.
He said: “Taxpayers will see this as lunacy. Clearly we need to look again at this expensive policy.
“Taxpayers expect more from the justice system.”
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