UK prisoners made up nearly 40% of Jersey’s prison population last year after transfers were suspended due to the UK prison population crisis.
At the end of 2024, HMP La Moye had 19 inmates awaiting transfer to England, Wales, and Northern Ireland.
The figures were revealed as part of an annual report published today by the Jersey Independent Prison Monitoring Board.
The report said: “In 2024, La Moye was impacted by the over-crowding crisis in UK prisons as the UK would not accept transfers.
“Certain prisoners who would have previously been eligible for transfer to UK prisons to be nearer to loved ones have not had such an opportunity throughout the majority of 2024.
“This has had a significant impact on the morale of those prisoners who do not have family or personal connections in Jersey.
“It has also had a resourcing impact as evidenced in part by the higher average number of prisoners in custody in 2024.”
The report explained that La Moye had an informal transfer arrangement with the Ministry of Justice to transfer one prisoner a month to the UK until the end of 2023.
But these transfers were suspended throughout 2024 due to the UK prison population crisis.
“There is real concern about UK prisoners who do not have family/friends in Jersey to support them during their sentence,” the board said.
Due to capacity constraints, HM Prison and Probation Service was unable to accommodate transfers from Jersey – except in cases involving medical or compassionate grounds, court productions, or English recalls.
“This suspension has led to the increase in the number of prisoners awaiting a transfer to the UK,” the report said.
A “compromise proposal” for the UK prison service to accept one prisoner per month from Jersey until regular transfers were reinstated was also declined.
Staff at La Moye were in “continuous communication” with the relevant UK authorities advocating for the resumption of transfers throughout 2024, according to the board.
The report said that an agreement was reached to resume transfers in February 2025 following a “successful meeting” in December 2024.
The Jersey Independent Prison Monitoring Board said it was “very pleased” that an agreement to reinstate transfers to the UK was reached.
At the end of 2024, 19 Jersey prisoners were awaiting UK transfers, one prisoner was awaiting repatriation to their country of origin to serve the rest of their sentence, three prisoners had been served with deportation orders to be transferred to their country of origin at the end of their sentence, and 14 prisoners were awaiting a decision on deportation.
You can read the full Jersey Independent Prison Monitoring Board annual report online.