Should foreign criminals be sent abroad to serve their sentences?
Over 10,000 foreign national offenders are held in prisons in England and Wales, around 12% of the total population. The UK routinely deports many after sentence under the Early Removal Scheme and has prisoner transfer agreements with over 100 countries to allow serving time at home. Reform UK proposes transferring them to serve full sentences in their home country or renting space in third countries like El Salvador's high-security facilities to ease overcrowding, cut costs and end early releases.
8 Opinions
Prisoners should end their sentence in the country that they're most likely to be living in when they're released.
Why do we think that they would actually serve our their time in prison in their home country, and not be the first ones given early release? El Salvador is also a poor option - beyond being cruel and triggering human rights appeals, it may deter judges convicting criminals/sentencing them to custodial sentences if the judge worries an ElSalvadorian sentence is too harsh. So now foreigners would get a lighter sentence and be walking our streets. Cf the 8loody Codes
This question was reworded after publication. However I'm still a "no" on the basis that we can have our own El Salvadorian prison system at home, given a Parliament with the will do just do things. I also have some low-cost solutions in mind that should be an effective deterrent!
Send them to Gaza.
I've said yes as I agree with prisoners being sent back to their own countries, to serve their sentence. I do not agree with sending them to places like El Salvador. Or if their lives are at risk in their home countries.
I mean I can't vote yes or no on a either / or question. But I'm against sending them to El Salvador. Sending foreign offenders home, however, is common sense, but renting cells in El Salvador is just Rwanda 2.0. Another expensive headline stunt. Offshoring convicts to Central America would just enrich private contractors while our prisons stay packed. Forget the fantasy gimmicks, we should focus on solid bilateral transfer deals with the countries offenders actually come fro
Countries should take back their criminals. For those that don’t, the option of El Salvador should be there. That will pressure the home countries to review their position, as families will not want their relatives sent there. Either way, it will be a financial saving