Reoffending rates better than UK - governor

John De Carteret said he was pleased with the annual report for 2024

The governor of Guernsey's prison has said Guernsey's reoffending rates in the island are better than in the UK.

Latest available figures from the UK between April and June 2023 indicate that the percentage of inmates who reoffended was 27.5%.

Following the release of the prison's 2024 annual report John De Carteret said "the re-offending rate resulting in a prison sentences is lower than the national average."

But he admitted there are a number of inmates who are consistently returning to Les Nicolles.

He said there were "a number of reasons" as to why people were coming back through the doors of the prison.

One that has been consistently identified in recent years is the lack of suitable available housing for inmates leaving prison.

"We've got a very committed team here around the resettlement stuff but I think it's just a lens on a wider problem across the island," he said.

"It's very difficult for anybody to find accommodation but even more so for those that are leaving and custody with certainly some of the offences that they may have and in terms of relationships they may have with previous landlords.

"Those can be quite a significant barrier to resettlement."

Recent reports from the Guernsey Community Foundation have identified a significant issue with prisoners leaving Les Nicolles and homelessness.

Mr De Carteret said: "Prisoners have been identified in a number of reports, some of those are published locally in terms of homelessness but that's alongside lots of other vulnerable people in the community.

"So what we find is an ever decreasing number of spaces for an ever increasing number of people with complex problems."