Tony Bennett

The right of foreign criminals to stay in prison for as long as they like:

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Culled from a Peterborough newspaper:


AN INMATE is refusing to leave Peterborough prison two years after serving his sentence – and the authorities are powerless to remove him.

The male prisoner, who is a foreign national, was due to be deported to his home country when he completed his stint at the city's jail in 2006.

But throughout his sentence he has refused to give prison officers his correct name or tell them the country where he was born.

Without the necessary paperwork he cannot be deported and could potentially remain at the prison indefinitely – costing the taxpayer an estimated £30,000 a year. The Chairman of HMP Peterborough's Independent Monitoring Board (IMB) Alessio Beschizza said he could not see an end to the "unusual" situation.

He said: "He is refusing to give the authorities any information about himself and there is nothing that can be done.

"We don't even know if the name he has been giving is correct and he will not confirm his nationality.

"He has been due for deportation since he completed his sentence almost two years ago, but the prison has no choice but to hold him until we get the information.

"He could well be in there indefinitely, unless someone takes his case up and it goes through the courts, but I can't see that happening."

Between April 2007 and March 2008, an average of 173 foreign nationals were accommodated at the prison – more than 15 per cent of its overall population.
During the same period, there were on average 16 prisoners awaiting deportation after serving their sentences, but most were removed "within reasonable time" according to the IMB.

The IMB's annual report, published yesterday, made reference to the prisoner's situation, adding that concerns had been raised a year ago but had still not been addressed.
It is not known how long the man had served in prison prior to his protest, or what crimes he committed.

According to the Refugee Council, his behaviour indicated he could be facing hardship or persecution if he was sent back to his home country.

A spokesman said: "If someone feels they don't want to be deported so strongly that they are prepared to remain in prison beyond their sentence, then it is likely there are some serious issues at stake.

"Asylum issues where people have some sort of fear of returning to their country are very complex, and it is important cases such as these are adequately examined."

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Independent UKIP

Where could he be deported to? Helmand Province, Afghanistan perhaps? If so why would the Afghan government agree to receive him? Especially if in reality he originates from DR Congo. Of what relevance is the Human Rights Act to this matter? Was it legal to deport such persons to any random place in the world prior to that act? I somehow doubt it.

angelman

Who really cares where he gets deported to? Me, I would just pass the problem onto someone else.

As for costing £30k a year, I would make it somewhat less comfortable, most likely a similar condition to prison in his country, where ever that may be. Stuff his human rights - if he is not going to say where he comes from then I think that he can forfeit them. Why make it so cushy that he wants to stay here?

Olympic Flame

An inmate hopes to stay in prison rather than going back to his home country.
This really tells us something about the prison. It is making people feeling too comfortable.

kernow

The type of prison I'd build and run, would be such that criminals would probably prefer to kill themselves rather than return to prison!

Olympic Flame

That would be too extreme and I doubt if you mean it literally.

Like most people I agree that prison is both a place for punishment and rehabiliation but it is the method deployed that matters.

In my own fantasy, I would propose a mixed of rigid military styled regimentation and dention barack styled punishement. It can include doing exercise with sand bag tied to them and falling in at odd hours from sleep such as 3am with prison officers chasing after them with powerful water pipes if they assemble too slow. Those who "graduated" from this period of "course" can then proceed to more comfortable routine prison live with more luxury items such as TV and gym and skill building programme but they need to maintain their basic discipline if not they would be recommended for "recourse".

The end product is that either inmates find prison a more scary place they they would not want to go in again or find themselves with much better discipline and self-control that help them to settle in the outside world.

Of course there are many unrealistic aspects of this fantasy and people who find it offensive can just treat it as some sort of BS