Latest news with #foreignoffenders
The Sun
18-07-2025
- Politics
- The Sun
Fury as Labour ministers unable to say how many foreign criminal deportations are being blocked by human rights laws
HOME OFFICE ministers were last night slammed for being unable to say how many foreign criminal deportations are being blocked by European human rights laws. The government faced demands to retrieve the 'basic facts' surrounding a growing row over the courts repeatedly thwarting removals of migrant offenders. 1 Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has vowed to tighten the laws following a massive backlash against foreign offenders dodging deportations on spurious ECHR grounds. One Albanian drug dealer notoriously argued against his return because his son did not like the country's chicken nuggets. Tory peer Baroness Porter used a parliamentary question to demand how many removal attempts have been stopped by court appeals. But Home Office Minister Lord Hanson - while hailing the 4,436 removals since the election - said his department does not have data on how many have been blocked. He said: 'Figures on the number of deportations that did not proceed due to the legal challenges, whether under the ECHR or otherwise, is not currently available from published statistics.' However he said work was 'underway' to improve the department's information on foreign national offenders. He added: 'If this work progresses as planned, the Home Office intend to publish more detailed information on FNOs subject to deportation.' Baroness Porter said: 'The government needs to take urgent action on Foreign National Offenders, how can they do this if they don't even have basic facts about what's going on. 'With UK prisons full to bursting, getting foreign offenders to serve their sentences in their home countries needs to be a priority, as does returning foreign offenders once they've finished serving their sentences.'
Daily Mail
06-07-2025
- Politics
- Daily Mail
'Revolving door' of offenders as deported criminals return to Scotland
CONVICTED criminals including violent thugs are being freed from jail to be deported then returning to Scotland – creating a 'revolving door' of foreign offenders. Prisoners from overseas can be released after serving half of their sentences if they are earmarked to be sent back to their homelands. But the scheme has been abused, with some offenders coming back to the UK and then being locked up to serve the rest of their original terms. It comes amid concern over criminals from other countries contributing to overcrowding which has led to the early release of hundreds to free up space. Last night Scottish Tory justice spokesman Liam Kerr said: 'Law-abiding people across the UK will be outraged at repeat foreign offenders being housed in our already overcrowded jails. 'With the SNP 's billion-pound replacement for Barlinnie prison in Glasgow still years away and Labour also being soft on crime, this revolving door situation cannot continue.' The Scottish Prison Service (SPS) said nine foreign criminals were sent back to Scottish jails after having been let out for deportation in the past ten years. It emerged in January that more than £1million of public cash had been handed to illegal immigrants in Scotland, including dangerous criminals, so they can fight deportation. The Mail previously revealed more than 630 people served with deportation orders after being convicted for crimes including sexual assault and violence had not been removed by the Home Office. The number of foreign criminals at large in the UK rocketed over the past year from 11,940 to 17,428 – a record high. The number in Scotland stands at 635. An Albanian criminal who was deported after serving a prison sentence for burglary successfully won the right to remain in the UK – after sneaking back into the country in defiance of a deportation order. Ardit Binaj, 32, was deported after serving just six months of a two-and-a-half-year sentence for burglary under a prisoner transfer agreement with Albania. He illegally entered the UK in 2014 and was arrested for burglary the following year. He was sentenced to 30 months, in addition to a six-month sentence for another burglary and 18 weeks for a separate theft. During Binaj's initial appeal hearing, he claimed he had sought early release to return to Albania to care for his ill grandmother, who later passed away. The judge rejected this, concluding he had returned to avoid serving his full sentence. In another case, an Albanian burglar who claimed asylum to avoid deportation taunted British taxpayers and the Home Office by filming himself cruising around London in a £300,000 Rolls-Royce Cullinan. Gucci-wearing Dorian Puka, 28, has previously been jailed and deported twice for a string of burglaries in the UK. Last year it emerged the Scottish Government was in talks with UK ministers over the deportation of criminals to serve sentences in their home countries to ease overcrowding. As of last October, there were 629 foreign nationals in Scotland's jails, 325 of whom had been convicted of a crime. Last November, an academic claimed Scottish jails resemble a 'mini UN conference'. Jim Watson, a criminal justice lecturer at the University of the West of Scotland, told the Daily Telegraph that during a visit to HMP Barlinnie he had met inmates from all over the world. An SPS spokesman said: 'We have been managing a rising and extremely complex population for more than a year now.' The Scottish Government said 'deportation is a matter for the UK Government'. A Home Office spokesman said: 'Since the election we've removed 4,436 foreign criminals, a 14 per cent increase on (the year before).'
The Independent
18-06-2025
- Health
- The Independent
Man with cerebral palsy and epilepsy detained by Home Office for 10 months despite doctor's warning
A disabled man with cerebral palsy and epilepsy was detained by the Home Office for ten months despite a doctor warning the government his detention was 'unsafe' and 'grossly detrimental to his wellbeing'. The shocking case emerged in a report into immigration detention, published on Thursday, which warned sites are becoming increasingly unsafe due to an influx of foreign prisoners. Foreign national offenders have been moved from prisons into immigration detention sites – which also house other migrants waiting on deportation – as part of a desperate scramble to reduce overcrowding in jails. This has led to male immigration detention centres becoming increasingly unsafe while drug use, which has rarely been a problem in the centres in the past, has become a big concern. Among the revelations in the Independent Monitoring Board's annual report, monitors found that: Drug dealers were using vulnerable men in immigration detention as 'guinea pigs' to test out new substances Migrants were being held for over a year in detention, with the number detained for over six months at its highest level for six years The use of force by staff against detained people increased during 2024 Foreign offenders told monitors they wanted to book their own flights to leave the UK but Home Office policy prevents them from leaving An increasing number of people resorting to self-harm, with monitors 'very concerned about the rise in numbers attempting suicide while detained' In one particularly disturbing case, a man who had cerebral palsy, epilepsy, mobility issues and learning difficulties was detained for ten months. In his first month, a doctor concluded that detention was 'grossly detrimental to his wellbeing' and that it was 'unsafe to look after him at the detention centre'. The man was put in a healthcare facility away from the rest of the detainees, resulting in him spending the majority of his time confined to one room. The report found: 'His physical health was impacted during his time in detention with at least one admission to hospital.' His mental health was also 'adversely affected' with inspectors finding 'him in distress at his situation'. He also told inspectors that 'he wanted to return to his country of origin'. Monitors said they had serious concerns about the treatment of vulnerable people in immigration detention. They also noted that illicit drugs have now become common place, adding: 'Substance misuse, including psychoactive and synthetic substances, had a knock-on effect on healthcare, with ambulances required in some instances. 'At Brook House immigration removal centre (IRC) dealers were thought to have used vulnerable men as guinea pigs to test these substances, with one man requiring medical care on several occasions as a result'. Charlotte Khan, head of advocacy and public affairs at refugee charity Care4Calais, said: 'The UK's detention system destroys lives, and this report highlights exactly how prolonged periods of detention, and grossly insufficient medical care, are bad for people's physical and mental health. 'Some of the examples in this report, including people with severe disabilities being detained, should act as a wake up call for the UK government, and aid calls for humane alternatives to detention'. Elisabeth Davies, IMB national chair, said the issues that her inspectorate were raising were not being addressed, adding: 'I find myself echoing the same concerns, alongside new ones, a year later'. A Home Office spokesperson said: 'This government inherited a flawed and under-resourced detention system from the previous government, where years of neglect allowed unacceptable conditions to take root. We are taking decisive action to turn this around. 'We will accept nothing but the highest standards of behaviour by staff, safety and welfare provision for those in our care. Since taking office, we have increased staffing levels and are investing in modernising facilities to continuously improve conditions and safeguards.'
