Prisons blunder kept 130 Polish criminals in the UK: Officials were told inmates including rapists and killers were exempt from being deported
Ministers were told the inmates were exempt from deportation under an EU transfer deal
The failure landed taxpayers with a bill of around £5.2 million a year
Michael Spurr, chief executive of the National Offender Management Service, revealed the error yesterday
Bob Neill, Tory chairman of the Commons’ Justice Select Committee, said the blunder undermines the public’s faith
By IAN DRURY FOR THE DAILY MAIL
30 November 2016
More than 100 hardened Polish prisoners avoided being sent home because of an astonishing blunder by officials at the Ministry of Justice.
Ministers were told the dangerous inmates – thought to include killers, rapists, violent thugs and burglars – were exempt from being deported from UK jails under an EU transfer deal.
But they were advised wrongly and at least 130 convicts from Poland should have been made to serve their sentences in their own country. The failure landed the British taxpayer a bill of around £5.2 million a year. It costs roughly £40,000 a year to keep a prisoner behind bars – so the total over four years could be almost £21 million.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3984264/Prisons-blunder-kept-130-Polish-criminals-UK-Officials-told-inmates-including-rapists-killers-exempt-deported.html#ixzz4RUnpUGgA
