Foreign prisoner figures updated
Back to Previous pageForeign prisoner figures updated
30 June 2006
The Government released new figures this week on the number of foreign prisoners facing deportation.
Figures released this week indicate that more than 700 foreign prisoners now face deportation, and more could be deported when they finish their sentences.
The Home Secretary ordered the figures compiled after he was given incorrect numbers in May of foreign prisoners released back into the general population when they should have been considered for deportation.
Lin Homer, the Director General of the Immigration and Nationality Directorate, released the new figures in a letter to the Chair of the Home Affairs Select Committee.
The numbers
Of the 1,013 cases identified, the figures break down as:
- 705 prisoners qualified for deportation - 46 have already been deported
- 239 of the prisoners in question are currently being detained
- 180 will not be deported
- 35 await further judgement, usually because the prisoner remains incarcerated
- approximately 90 cases are still being assessed
Director General Lin Homer wrote, 'These figures mean that the failure to consider deportation has been put right in over 90% of the cases.'
She warned, however, that the numbers were difficult to pin down because the system relies on historic, largely paper-based data systems. The lack of a system in which prisoners are given unique identifying numbers is another problem, and the Home Secretary has already made resolving that problem a priority.
Reform to follow investigation
An investigation was also carried out into how incorrect figures were previously given to the Home Secretary, and it found significant systemic failures and insufficient management information systems to keep the information up-to-date.
These and all of the issues raised in the investigation will be addressed as the department is reformed over the coming months, becoming, in the process, more accountable and accurate.
