The specific information you have requested regarding the foreign national offenders (FNOs) released from HMP Huntersombe who subsequently abscond is not available from published Home Office statistics.

We make every effort to ensure that FNOs are removed directly from prison, and we have delivered record numbers of FNO returns under the Early Removal Scheme, delivering 3,044 returns in the year ending January 2026, which is a 13% increase compared to the 2,700 in the same period 12 months prior.

The Home Office faces significant and complex challenges when seeking to return those who have no right to be in the UK to their country of origin or lawful place of return and it is not always possible to remove immediately post custodial sentence.

Where removal is not immediately possible, FNOs may be granted bail to be managed in the community. FNOs will be subject to rigorous reporting, electronic monitoring, and accommodation conditions.

If an FNO does not comply with their bail conditions, the Home Office has a dedicated tracing capability that works in partnership with the police, other government agencies, and commercial companies to help identify information on a person. Where tracing checks are successful, we will consider the most appropriate intervention, including whether to task an enforcement team to conduct a visit or to set up a suitable immigration reporting regime.

Foreign national offenders (FNOs) are referred to the Home Office for deportation immediately following sentencing. The timeliness of criminal court proceedings and extensive periods on remand means many prisoners will reach their Early Removal Scheme (ERS) window immediately, or very soon after they are sentenced. It is therefore not always possible for the Home Office to carry out all the case working and administrative processes as soon as an FNO becomes eligible for removal under ERS, even when they wish to return voluntarily.

HMPPS (HM Prisons and Probation Service) are working closely with the Home Office to ensure the ERS process runs as efficiently as possible focusing on operational improvements and more robust data.

Latest published information shows that between 5 July 2024 and 4 July 2025 2,632 FNOs were removed directly from prison under ERS, which is a 10% increase compared to the 2,385 in the same period 12 months prior.

We make every effort to ensure that a FNO’s removal by deportation coincides with their release from prison upon completion of their custodial sentence. Legal or re-documentation barriers can frustrate immediate deportation. Despite the barriers we face, we remain resolute in our commitment to deport those who would abuse our hospitality and make our communities safer for everyone.

The information requested is not available from published statistics.

The requested data is not held centrally and could not be obtained without incurring disproportionate cost.

In the last financial year (FY 23/24) Forward Trust has received £7,401,140 from the Department for prison contracts.

Forward Trust has received £0 for contracts relating to HMP Maidstone, HMPS Huntercombe and HMP Morton Hall in the last financial year.

Prisoners are not permitted to have mobile telephones, and stringent measures are in place to prevent the entry of mobile telephones into establishments.

To provide data on prisoners remaining in custody beyond their sentence date would require a search of individual records, which could not be done without incurring disproportionate cost.

Information on interpretation and translation costs covering the time period specified is not available. Expenditure interpretation and translation in the current financial year to date is shown in the table below. As both types of expenditure are accounted for under the same budget item, it is not possible to provide a further breakdown.

“Drug-related incident” is not a discrete category within the data collected. A variety of different types of incidents could potentially be drug related. It would therefore be necessary to make a detailed search of individual records to establish which incidents could be categorised in that way. This could not be done without incurring disproportionate cost.

The latest published breakdown of offences for which prisoners at the three establishments have been imprisoned can be found via the following link (under the ‘PT’ tab): Prison_Population_data_tool_2024-09-30.xlsx.

To provide data on prisoners remaining in custody beyond their sentence date would require a search of individual records, which could not be done without incurring disproportionate cost.

Information on interpretation and translation costs covering the time period specified is not available. Expenditure interpretation and translation in the current financial year to date is shown in the table below. As both types of expenditure are accounted for under the same budget item, it is not possible to provide a further breakdown.

“Drug-related incident” is not a discrete category within the data collected. A variety of different types of incidents could potentially be drug related. It would therefore be necessary to make a detailed search of individual records to establish which incidents could be categorised in that way. This could not be done without incurring disproportionate cost.

The latest published breakdown of offences for which prisoners at the three establishments have been imprisoned can be found via the following link (under the ‘PT’ tab): Prison_Population_data_tool_2024-09-30.xlsx.

To provide data on prisoners remaining in custody beyond their sentence date would require a search of individual records, which could not be done without incurring disproportionate cost.

Information on interpretation and translation costs covering the time period specified is not available. Expenditure interpretation and translation in the current financial year to date is shown in the table below. As both types of expenditure are accounted for under the same budget item, it is not possible to provide a further breakdown.

“Drug-related incident” is not a discrete category within the data collected. A variety of different types of incidents could potentially be drug related. It would therefore be necessary to make a detailed search of individual records to establish which incidents could be categorised in that way. This could not be done without incurring disproportionate cost.

The latest published breakdown of offences for which prisoners at the three establishments have been imprisoned can be found via the following link (under the ‘PT’ tab): Prison_Population_data_tool_2024-09-30.xlsx.

To provide data on prisoners remaining in custody beyond their sentence date would require a search of individual records, which could not be done without incurring disproportionate cost.

Information on interpretation and translation costs covering the time period specified is not available. Expenditure interpretation and translation in the current financial year to date is shown in the table below. As both types of expenditure are accounted for under the same budget item, it is not possible to provide a further breakdown.

“Drug-related incident” is not a discrete category within the data collected. A variety of different types of incidents could potentially be drug related. It would therefore be necessary to make a detailed search of individual records to establish which incidents could be categorised in that way. This could not be done without incurring disproportionate cost.

The latest published breakdown of offences for which prisoners at the three establishments have been imprisoned can be found via the following link (under the ‘PT’ tab): Prison_Population_data_tool_2024-09-30.xlsx.

Please see the below table showing the number and rate of assaults on staff in HMP (a) Maidstone, (b) Huntercombe and (c) Morton Hall in each of the last five years, together with the rate of assaults on staff across the estate as a whole.

Number and rate per 1,000 prisoners of assaults on staff¹ within prison custody, 2019 to 2023

These figures have been drawn from the HMPPS Incident Reporting System. Care is taken when processing and analysing returns but the detail is subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large scale recording system. Although shown to the last case, the figures may not be accurate to that level.

(1) Assaults on staff are a subset of all assault incidents. Some assault incidents may be recorded as both a prisoner-on-prisoner assault and an assault on staff.

(2) Rates express the number of incidents per 1,000 prisoners, and give a more reliable indicator of trends than numbers of incidents because they take account of changes in the prison population over time. The rates are calculated by dividing the number of incidents occurring within a twelve-month period by the average prison population at the end of each month within the same period, multiplied by 1,000. The prison population figures are published in Offender Management Statistics Quarterly.

In 2023-24, 23 education courses were provided at HMP Maidstone, 26 at HMP Huntercombe and 48 at HMP Morton Hall.

Data on the cost of providing these courses at HMP Huntercombe and HMP Morton Hall are in the process of validation. Information in relation to HMP Maidstone is not available, as the costs form part of a single budget item covering a number of prisons and cannot be disaggregated.

Courses, such as the ones offered at these sites, are one of many valuable ways in which we can improve rehabilitation and cut reoffending which costs society more than £18 billion per year.

Information on the number of Band 3 prison officers who were on duty in the prison on that day at HMP Huntercombe, HMP Maidstone and HMP Morton Hall on 1 September 2023, together with the reasons for absence, are set out in the table below:

It should be noted that these figures have been drawn from administrative IT systems which, as with any large-scale recording system, are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing.

The figures for those who were on duty in the prison on that day include all staff who attended for all or part of a shift, including any additional-payment shifts and night duties. Those recorded in the category of ‘Other Absences’ can include staff attending medical appointments, and those on restricted duties, phased return, secondment, maternity leave, jury service, official duty, parental leave, suspension or bed watch, as well as any working at a different grade, taking time off in lieu or working remotely.

We have taken a series of measures to increase the prison workforce. Despite a challenging labour market, the 12 months ending 30 June 2023 saw an increase of 701 Full-Time-Equivalent Band 3-5 prison officers. This means we now have 4,000 more prison officers than in March 2017. We are committed to recruiting up to 5,000 prison officers across public and private prisons by the mid-2020s.

We recently increased the pay of the vast majority of frontline officers by 7 per cent. Combined with other pay rises, this means starting pay for prison officers has increased since 2019 from £22,293 to £30,902 (on the basis of a national rate, 37-hour week with unsocial hours) or £23,529 to £32,851 (on the basis of a national rate, 39-hour week with unsocial hours).

There are no translators employed in prisons on a permanent basis. The Ministry of Justice Language Service Contract provides face-to-face and telephone interpretation services for prisons, on a case-by-case basis, on request.

We are delivering 40 Rapid Deployment Cells at HMP Huntercombe. Units were deployed at the site in September 2023 and essential works are ongoing to get the units ready for occupation. First prisoners are expected to occupy the units from early January 2024.

There is no current plan to deliver Rapid Deployment Cells at HMP Maidstone or HMP Morton Hall.

The Rapid Deployment Cells Project is a key element of the HMPPS Programme to create short-term prison places and this project has a clear strategic goal to deliver additional places at prisons across the country, whilst long-term capacity is built.

We will continue to explore where Rapid Deployment Cells could potentially be deployed at prisons across the estate.

The population, operational capacity and certified normal accommodation (CNA) level of every prison is published monthly: Prison population figures: 2023 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).

HMP Huntercombe, HMP Maidstone and HMP Morton Hall are the three foreign national offenders (FNO) only prisons within HMPPS. They hold only those of interest to the Home Office with between 3 and 36 months left to serve. They include embedded Home Office staff with better access to FNOs to facilitate effective deportations.

The table below provides the operational capacity and certified normal accommodation level at (a) HMP Huntercombe, (b) HMP Maidstone and (c) HMP Morton Hall on 16 October 2023.

The Operational Capacity of a prison is the total number of prisoners that an establishment can hold taking into account control, security and the proper operation of the planned regime. It is determined by the Prison Group Directors on the basis of operational judgement and experience.

We are committed to increasing the number of FNOs removed from our prisons, and all FNOs sentenced to custody are referred to us at the earliest opportunity to be considered for deportation.

The population, operational capacity and certified normal accommodation (CNA) level of every prison is published monthly: Prison population figures: 2023 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).

HMP Huntercombe, HMP Maidstone and HMP Morton Hall are the three foreign national offenders (FNO) only prisons within HMPPS. They hold only those of interest to the Home Office with between 3 and 36 months left to serve. They include embedded Home Office staff with better access to FNOs to facilitate effective deportations.

The table below provides the operational capacity and certified normal accommodation level at (a) HMP Huntercombe, (b) HMP Maidstone and (c) HMP Morton Hall on 16 October 2023.

The Operational Capacity of a prison is the total number of prisoners that an establishment can hold taking into account control, security and the proper operation of the planned regime. It is determined by the Prison Group Directors on the basis of operational judgement and experience.

We are committed to increasing the number of FNOs removed from our prisons, and all FNOs sentenced to custody are referred to us at the earliest opportunity to be considered for deportation.

The budget of HM Prison Huntercombe for 2017-18 has not yet been set. Discussions on the prison’s Performance Agreement 2017-18 which will include its budget are due to conclude by 31 March 2017.

The budget of HM Prison Huntercombe does not presently include provision for prisoner education as this is made through the central Offender Learning & Skills Service. In future that funding will be devolved to the prison under the changes proposed in the White Paper Prison Safety & Reform. In its present 2016-17 budget the prison has provision of 0.15% of the total budget for prisoner recreation.

The budget of HM Prison Huntercombe for 2017-18 has not yet been set. Discussions on the prison’s Performance Agreement 2017-18 which will include its budget are due to conclude by 31 March 2017.

The budget of HM Prison Huntercombe does not presently include provision for prisoner education as this is made through the central Offender Learning & Skills Service. In future that funding will be devolved to the prison under the changes proposed in the White Paper Prison Safety & Reform. In its present 2016-17 budget the prison has provision of 0.15% of the total budget for prisoner recreation.

The average length of time prisoners currently spend at HM Prison Huntercombe is 6 months. Prisoners may leave the prison for a range of reasons because they have reached their Early Removal Scheme (ERS) date and are being deported or because are moving to detention ordered by the Home Office or are being released on licence.