My TrackI will be released into
the UK
- 0%
- 100%
Repatriation/Prisoner Transfer Agreements
1.Overview
This section refers to mechanisms whereby a prisoner may be returned to their country of origin in order to serve the remainder of their sentence. It is not about release. All cases considered for repatriation are dealt with by the Cross Border Transfer Section in NOMS. Guidance on the processes are contained in PSI 52/2011. Previously, FNPs could only be repatriated to countries with whom the UK had a relevant international agreement in place and required the consent of the sending country, the receiving country and of the FNP. However, the statutory instrument which governs the repatriation of prisoners, the Repatriation of Prisoners Act 1984 (RPA) has been considerably amended in recent times and in some cases, where the international agreement does not require consent, the consent of the FNP is no longer necessary. In addition to the changes made to the RPA, the government has been working to increase the number of agreements in place to transfer prisoners without consent. Every international agreement on prisoner transfer will contain its own requirements. However, the most usual requirements are: - The prisoner is a national of the receiving state. In some rare cases persons with established roots in another state may be considered for transfer even if they are not nationals of that country; - The sentence is final and so is not subject to appeal; - The offence giving rise to the sentence is an offence in the receiving country; - There are at least six months of the sentence outstanding, or the sentence is indeterminate; and - Both the sentencing and receiving state consent to the transfer. Because of the complexity of repatriation proceedings in practice it would be unusual to pursue repatriation unless the prisoner had a sentence of at least 4 years duration. The UK is party to a number of bi-lateral agreements for prisoner repatriation which are listed in Annex 5 of Prison Service Instruction 52/2011.
2. The Commonwealth Scheme for the Transfer of Convicted Offenders
The UK is also party to three multilateral agreements in this area: This agreement lays out the conditions for transfer of prisoners between Commonwealth countries. The agreement requires that any prisoner consent to repatriation. Although the parties to the agreement include a number of countries with a large number of their nationals in UK prisons, for example Jamaica, Nigeria, Bangladesh and India, due to the consent element and other obstacles it has in practice only ever been used to transfer prisoners to Grenada.
3. The Council of Europe Convention on the Transfer of Sentenced Persons
Despite its name, the signatories to this convention are wider than the members of the Council of Europe. At present, most prison transfers have been carried out under this legislation
4. EU Framework Decision 2008/909 JHA
Since 5th December 2011, the above instrument has replaced the Council of Europe Convention on the Transfer of Sentenced Persons for EU states. The instrument requires signatories to accept transfers in most cases. Poland has entered a reservation to this instrument at the present time. Prisoners can challenge decisions to repatriate. The grounds are likely to be very similar to the grounds used to contest deportation.