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Prisoners: Deportation

My right honourable friend the Secretary of State for the Home Department (John Reid) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement. I would like to provide an update on the issue of foreign national prisoners. The House will understand that I can only provide the information available to me at this time. Very detailed consideration of the case files and other records by all agencies continues and further amendments may need to be made to the figures. Thus, it remains subject to change. I am placing in the Library a detailed note on the data that are now available in relation to the 1,023 prisoners released from prison without the consideration of deportation they should have received. Progress continues to be made in the operation to deal with the released foreign prisoners. The operation is prioritising the serious cases first. I have widened the definition of serious offences to include all cases where there has been any conviction for offences involving violence or a sexual element. This includes armed robbery. As the operation has progressed, detailed examination of the case files and other records has to date identified 179 offenders who had previously been convicted of a serious offence. Of these 179 offenders, 35 have been convicted of the most serious offences, defined as murder, manslaughter, rape and child sex offences. Of the four who had committed murder, three are now within our control. Of the other 31 most serious cases which include rapists and child sex offenders, 23 are now within our control or deported. Eight of these 35 had re-offended since release and had committed crimes that did not involve violence or a sexual element. Fifty-five of the 144 other serious offenders are now under our control or deported. Of these 144, nine are where a person has re-offended following release and committed a crime involving violence or a sexual element. A further 40 of the other serious offenders have also re-offended since release, 10 of the offences involving violence or a sexual element. All of the 1,023 have now been assessed and consideration of the case for deportation has started in 880 of the 1,023 cases, of which there was an initial decision to deport in 649 of these. Two hundred and three are now under either our control or have been deported or removed. A number of honourable Members have asked for a detailed breakdown of cases by the prison from which they were released or by constituency. We intend to be able to provide this information in due course, but we are currently prioritising the operational work on the consideration of the cases and, where deportation orders have been made, detentions. I hope honourable Members will understand.