Jersey has shelved plans to transfer prisoners to Guernsey to help ease pressure when La Moye is full or near capacity.
In 2019, the Home Affairs Department began working on updating the island’s laws to allow inter-island prisoner transfers, which was due to be completed by the end of that year.
Moving inmates between the islands for administrative purposes and to help ease populations at both La Moye and Les Nicolles in Guernsey was an idea first mooted by Guernsey’s then Home Affairs President Mary Lowe in 2018.
Guernsey’s then Prison Governor Dave Matthews confirmed that Jersey was working on a new law, but added that there was already some legislation in place that allowed for the transfer of prisoners to the UK, Jersey or the Isle of Man under special circumstances.
Providing an update on the plans this week, a spokesperson for Jersey’s Justice and Home Affairs Department said: “There are currently no legal arrangements in place to allow the direct transfer of prisoners between the Channel Islands. New legislation would be required to enable such transfers.
“In the past, preliminary discussions about introducing inter-island transfer legislation have taken place.
“At present, if a request for transfer between the islands is received and the individual meets the necessary criteria, the transfer can be facilitated through England. However, there has been very low demand for such transfers, with only one recent request that did not meet the criteria.
“This indicates that direct transfer arrangements are not currently a critical area of work for the States of Jersey Prison Service.”