More Albanian prisoners will be deported from British jails to serve their sentences in home country under new deal as figures show 1,500 are currently in custody - the highest of any foreign national
- UK and Albanian justice ministers approved the Prisoner Transfer Agreement
- Repatriated Albanians will serve their full sentence in their home country
- The government hopes to begin the transfers in the autumn
More Albanian criminals will be expelled from England and Wales and transferred to prisons in their home country under an agreement reached Monday by the government.
UK and Albanian justice ministers Chris Philp and Etilda Gjonaj approved the Prisoner Transfer Agreement, where British criminals in Albanian jails will also be returned to the UK.
The deal builds on an agreement signed by home secretary Priti Patel earlier this month that was designed to speed up the process of deporting crooks.
Under the new deal, repatriated prisoners will serve their full sentence in their home country and they will be banned from ever returning to the UK. Albania will pay the costs of housing prisoners once they leave the UK, though Britain will cover the cost of their transport.
UK and Albanian justice ministers Chris Philp and Etilda Gjonaj approved the Prisoner Transfer Agreement, where British criminals in Albanian jails will also be returned to the UK
More Albanian criminals will be expelled from England and Wales and transferred to prisons in their home country under an agreement reached Monday by the government
Pictured, a gang of Albanian drug dealers are taunting cops by posting pictures of drug money and flash cars to a public Instagram page
Albanian nationals make up 10 per cent of foreign criminals in UK jails - the largest share held by any other country. More than 1,500 Albanians are in prison in England and Wales. The UK does not have statistics on British prisoners in overseas jails, though the number imprisoned in Albania is thought to be extremely low.
There is growing concern over the number of foreign nationals in prison in England and Wales - one in eight inmates are now non-UK citizens.
Under the new deal, Albania will pay the costs of housing prisoners once they leave the UK, though Britain will cover the cost of their transport. The repatriated prisoners will serve their full sentence in their home country and they will be banned from ever returning to the UK.
The transfers won't begin until at least the autumn.
UK and Albanian justice ministers Chris Philp and Etilda Gjonaj approved the Prisoner Transfer Agreement,
'We are committed to removing foreign criminals who have abused our hospitality and inflicted misery on our communities,' Philp said in a statement.
The bilateral Albanian prisoner deal is a major breakthrough post-Brexit and could pave the way for similar deals, such as Poland, whose nationals make up the second largest bloc of foreign prisoners in UK jails.
The UK and Albania halve also reaffirmed their shared commitment to crack down on Western Balkan-based crime groups that are involved in drugs trafficking, illicit finance and organised immigration crime to the UK.
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