Solution to overcrowded UK prisons: Rent jail space overseas

The shocking state of the prison system is the catalyst behind the UK Government’s plan to rent jail space in foreign countries while a major expansion of prisons is underway.

Inside a chaotic and overcrowded UK jail, terror suspect Daniel Khalife managed to slip past guards and escape, sparking a four-day manhunt.

Elsewhere in Wandsworth jail, which houses long-term and high security prisoners, an inmate laughed in the face of an officer who asked him to put his cigarette out.

Other prisoners tell staff what they should be doing, as most are inexperienced and not long out of school – and struggle when they are thrown into the pressure cooker that is the UK’s second most crowded jail.

Khalife, 21, was eventually caught, but his brazen escape sparked the removal of dozens of other inmates from Wandsworth.

As inquiries began into Khalife, who was awaiting trial on terrorism charges, former inmates and staff shared examples of a “nightmarish” ghetto with few controls due to overcrowding and understaffing.

Daniel Khalife. Picture: Metropolitan Police/AFP

David Shipley. Picture: Supplied

David Shipley, who served time for fraud in Wandsworth, told The Independent: “There were so many prisoners that you would have one, two, three staff on a wing with a few hundred prisoners. Often they wouldn’t have the energy or capacity to really enforce standards of behaviour.”

The shocking state of the prison system in England and Wales is the catalyst behind the UK Government’s plan to rent jail space in foreign countries while a major expansion of prisons is underway.

Six new jails are planned which will mean 20,000 additional prison places.

But it’s not enough – even if the new prisons are built on time, by early 2025 there will be a shortfall of 2300 places.

Alex Chalk, the Justice Secretary in Rishi Sunak’s Conservative government, told a party conference renting space in other countries’ jails was his plan to reduce overcrowding and relieve the pressure on guards.

Britain's Justice Secretary Alex Chalk. Picture: Oli Scarff/AFP

“Alongside our extra 20,000 prison places program, refurbishment of old prisons and rapid deployment cells, renting prison places in other countries will ensure that we always have the space to keep the public safe from the most dangerous offenders,” Mr Chalk said.

He drew inspiration from a similar scheme in Norway, with early talks with European countries already underway.

Such a move would mean prisoners in the UK could be shifted to another country’s prison system if the facilities and rehabilitation was of a similar standard to the UK.

Prisons Minister Damian Hinds said the scheme was needed to ensure public safety.

“Public protection is our top priority, which is why we are rightly locking up the most dangerous offenders for longer. To do that, we must continue to ensure we have sufficient prison places,” he said.

Prisons Minister Damian Hinds. Picture: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

“Renting space in foreign prisons is an established practice in other nations, and proves that only the Conservatives are committed to taking the tough action to make our streets safer.”

Many countries are trying to reduce their prison populations, and trying to reduce reoffending through better rehabilitation, but releasing criminals before the end of their sentence to save space illustrates how shocking the situation is.

Statistics complied by The independent reveal many prisons – including Wandsworth – are bursting at the seams, holding 70 per cent more inmates than they should.

There are calls for sentences under one year to be abolished and some criminals to be released from jail early to ease the crisis.

Wandsworth Prison in Southwest London. Picture: Supplied

President of the Prison Governor’s Association (PGA) Andrea Albutt said the “nuclear button” could be needed soon.

“We are reaching the critical point. The point of no return. In the adult male estate, there are only a few hundred spaces left, and that will be consumed in the next couple of weeks,” she said.

However, others suggest such radical changes could be averted if temporary measures like using police cells were increased.

But even the inspector of prisons Charlie Taylor warned that won’t last.

“In the longer term, there’s a much more protracted problem where we won’t be able to accommodate people anymore. You’ve got three choices; you either build a bigger bath, let some of the water out of the bath, or turn the taps off,” he said.

“Overcrowding affects everything – it means prisons spend longer locked up, there’s more pressure on showers, pressure on getting out for exercise, rising levels of violence.”

A prisoner on wing cleaning duties in HMP Wandsworth.

The opposition Labour Party said the crisis proved the government had failed to plan and manage the prison system, while Prison Reform Trust chief executive Pia Sinha called the plan “half-baked”.

“The red warning light of a looming capacity crisis has been flashing on the prison service dashboard for a number of months. Ministers can’t say they haven’t been warned. They urgently need to bring forward practical plans to reduce pressure on the system, including the executive release of some prisoners. The risks of not doing so are too perilous to ignore,” Ms Sinha told The Mirror.

Norway ended its arrangement with the Netherlands in 2018, three years after mainly foreign-born inmates were sent to a Dutch prison.

The prison was staffed by Dutch guards who worked under Norwegian prison laws. The cells were similar to what inmates experienced in Norway, but the exercise yard area was larger.

The deal ended after Norway said it had reduced overcrowding and was close to completing a new prison, but it wasn’t without controversy.

Norgerhaven Prison in the Netherlands. Picture: Supplied

University of Oslo researchers said inmates in the Dutch jails didn’t get the same rehabilitation options as they would have in Norway, and there were jurisdiction issues between the two countries.

Belgium had a similar arrangement with Netherlands and Denmark is considering one with Kosovo.

The Howard League for penal reform said the proposal was a “new low” and claimed Norway and Belgium’s schemes were unsuccessful after practical problems.

“Tellingly, both the Norwegian and Belgian experiments only lasted a few years before being quietly dismantled,” a Howard League statement said.