Nigel Farage has unveiled plans to send thousands of Britain’s most dangerous criminals – including murderers and paedophiles – to serve their sentences overseas, in a bold move to tackle the nation’s prison overcrowding crisis.
The Reform UK leader is proposing to rent jail space abroad, including in Central American countries like El Salvador, to house over 10,000 serious offenders. A party source confirmed yesterday: “We would consider multiple partners including El Salvador.”
The former UKIP chief is set to lay out the full details of the policy in Westminster today, touting the plan as a cost-effective fix while Britain’s jails teeter on the edge of collapse.
Mr Farage told The Sun: “For too long, Labour and the Tories have sent the message that crime in Britain carries little to no consequence. Reform will change that. If you’re a criminal, we are putting you on notice. In 2029 you have a choice to make: be a law-abiding citizen or face serious justice.”
The initiative would see the use of so-called “dynamic prisons” – adaptable incarceration systems based in partner nations – offering more flexible and economical solutions.
According to Ministry of Justice figures, it costs an eye-watering £51,724 a year to house a prisoner in England and Wales. With the prison population hitting 87,334 last month – just 2,239 short of full capacity – pressure is mounting for urgent reform.
Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood has already come under fire this month over proposals allowing offenders to bypass crown court, avoid criminal records, and instead face community service or rehabilitation. Plans are also being considered to increase sentence reductions to 40 per cent for early guilty pleas, up from a third, in a bid to ease overcrowding.
Thousands of inmates have already been released early in the last two years to prevent a complete breakdown of the system.
Reform MP and former magistrate Sarah Pochin backed the overseas prison plan, saying: “The cost to the British taxpayer of prison places is currently estimated at over £50,000 per year and rising. By sending our most serious offenders to overseas jails, we greatly reduce this cost and at the same time they experience a tougher prison environment and lose privileges such as family visits which quite frankly they don’t deserve.”
Supporters argue the radical plan would stop twisted killers like Soham murderer Ian Huntley from tormenting victims’ families while serving life behind bars. The 51-year-old sparked outrage after being spotted at HMP Frankland in County Durham wearing a Manchester United-style No10 shirt – eerily echoing the tops worn by ten-year-olds Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman on the day he murdered them in 2002.
A prison source said: “He’s been seen strutting about in the shirt as if it’s funny. It is vile.” Prison bosses have since confiscated the offending garment.
Similar overseas jail schemes are already in motion elsewhere. Denmark recently signed a £173million deal with Kosovo to lease 300 prison cells in a refurbished facility near Gjilan. The ten-year agreement is intended to relieve pressure on Denmark’s overcrowded jails, and is limited to foreign nationals set to be deported after serving their sentence.
But Reform insists that its version will go much further — applying to Britain’s most hardened criminals.
Labour has dismissed Mr Farage’s proposal as “pie in the sky”. A Government source said: “This is more fantasy thinking from Farage, who has once again dreamed up a policy that just doesn’t add up. While he peddles pie in the sky schemes, this Government is building prisons right here in Britain with 2,400 new cells opened as part of the biggest jail expansion in over a century.”