Lord Hylton – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hylton on 2014-04-03.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, at the latest date, how many immigration detainees were being held in HM prisons; how many foreign national offenders, whose sentences had already expired but who had not been deported were being held; and what assessment they have made of the impact of such persons on the rehabilitation of British prisoners.

Lord Taylor of Holbeach

For the week commencing 31 March, there were 720 immigration detainees in prisons.

Please note that the data includes a small number of individuals who have never served a custodial sentence, but who present specific risk factors that indicate they pose a serious risk of harm to the public or to the good order of an Immigration Removal Centre (IRC) including the safety of staff and other detainees, which cannot be managed within the regime applied in IRCs.

To extract this small number of cases would incur a disproportionate cost.

Foreign national offenders held in prisons beyond the end of their sentence under immigration powers are normally held in unconvicted conditions. Their presence in these prisons does not affect the rehabilitation of British nationals whose access to accredited interventions and other rehabilitation services is governed by risk of offending and offender-related need.