Prisoners sentenced in Jersey to be deported

Jersey politicians agreed that prisoners can be sent home to serve their jail sentence

Jersey politicians have unanimously agreed that prisoners can be sent back to their home countries to serve their prison sentences.

It means people from outside the island can serve their sentence from the Jersey courts in their own country.

People from Jersey who are jailed outside the island will also be able to serve the sentence in the island.

The Home Affairs Minister said he hoped the law change would reduce the number of people in La Moye prison.

Senator Ian Le Marquand said: "The aim is to change the system so we then move to unrestricted transfers, and that will then produce a secondary benefit in terms of a reduction in the prison population."

There is currently no law governing the sending back of prisoners from places outside the UK.

Under this new law, the Home Affairs Minister would issue a warrant for a transfer.

The prisoner would have to be told in their own language and the effect of the warrant on the prisoner would have to be considered.