---

Prisoners: Foreign Nationals

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 correct an error contained in my Written Statement of 23 May (Official Report, House of Commons, col. 77WS) and to apologise for inadvertently misleading the House. In my Statement, I reported that four murderers and 23 other ““most serious”” offenders, including rapists and child sex offenders (who were among the 1,019 cases who were not considered for deportation before their release from prison) were detained in prison. I was subsequently informed that, of these, one murderer, one rapist and one child sex offender who had been detained have in fact since been released on bail by the asylum and immigration tribunal. In addition, I have been informed of eight other cases where the individual has been bailed, including four in the ““more serious”” category. I have been told that these bail applications were heard over the past two weeks and that more hearings are due to take place in the coming days. I have asked the department to re-check all the figures provided to the House in my Statement.