Send foreign prisoners abroad to end early releases, says Reform UK

The party’s chairman, Lee Anderson, is reportedly set to visit El Salvador to explore options for renting prison spaces, a move that has drawn both scrutiny and criticism. Reform UK believes that by removing over 10,000 foreign nationals from the domestic prison estate and simultaneously constructing emergency "Nightingale" prisons, the UK would free up sufficient capacity to overhaul sentencing laws. This would mean an end to the early release of offenders and a commitment that "killers, rapists and thugs will never be released a day early."

Under Reform’s proposed policy, foreign criminals receiving non-custodial sentences would face immediate deportation to their country of origin. For those handed custodial sentences, the plan dictates that they would serve their entire term either in their home country or in a third country willing to rent out prison facilities, should their native nation refuse to take them. Beyond El Salvador, Farage has previously mooted Kosovo as a possibility, and on Monday, he suggested Estonia and Lithuania could also be considered for such arrangements.

The scale of the issue is significant. At the close of June, England and Wales held 10,134 foreign nationals in custody, constituting approximately 12% of the total prison population. Reform UK claims its proposals would liberate more than 10,000 prison spaces. However, a notable omission in the party’s policy document, and one that Farage and home affairs spokesperson Zia Yusuf failed to clarify at Monday’s press conference, is whether this figure includes remand prisoners awaiting trial, who account for roughly a third of the foreign national offender demographic. This ambiguity raises questions about the true number of spaces that would be immediately freed.

Farage addressed the perception of El Salvador as an "extreme example" of a country to send prisoners, acknowledging its notoriety but downplaying accusations of widespread human rights abuses within its prison system. "Not all of the prisons are cages," he stated. El Salvador currently holds the unenviable distinction of having the highest incarceration rate globally, largely due to a severe government crackdown on gang-related crime, which includes the infamous Center for the Confinement of Terrorism (Cecot) mega-jail. Despite this, Reform UK insists that any agreement with El Salvador would mandate adherence to "British standards on size, lighting, heating, ventilation and fittings, and require daily open-air time." The financial incentive, Farage argued, is compelling: "To house a foreign national offender in El Salvador will be half the cost of housing a foreign national offender in this country, and will give us more prison spaces." Upon completing their sentences, these foreign national offenders would be repatriated to their home countries and permanently barred from re-entering the UK. While the party has not provided a specific budget for this scheme, it projects substantial savings on the "billions of pounds" currently spent housing foreign prisoners domestically.

The concept of outsourcing prison capacity is not without precedent. In 2021, Denmark forged an agreement with Kosovo, committing to an annual fee of £12.8 million over an initial five-year period to rent 300 prison spaces. This arrangement illustrates the potential, albeit complex, logistical and financial frameworks involved in such international transfers. However, critics often highlight the significant legal hurdles, human rights considerations, and bilateral negotiation challenges inherent in these types of deals.

Reform UK’s proposals come at a time of immense pressure on the UK government regarding its own early release scheme. This scheme, designed to alleviate severe prison overcrowding, is slated to commence in October in England and Wales, with an initial tranche of 5,000 prisoners due for release. Last week, Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham announced exclusions for prisoners convicted of rape, grooming, and serious child sex offences, expressing a desire to expand these exclusions further but citing prison overcrowding as a limiting factor. The controversy intensified with the revelation that two of PC Andrew Harper’s killers, Jessie Cole and Albert Bowers, remain eligible for release halfway through their 13-year manslaughter sentences. Downing Street confirmed on Monday that it was "not possible" to exempt "one or two offenders" convicted of manslaughter from early release, underscoring the systemic nature of the problem. Farage seized on this, stating that while "Labour have inherited a very, very difficult situation" from the Conservatives, they "don’t appear to have the imagination or the will to solve it."

Existing UK law dictates automatic deportation for foreign nationals sentenced to at least 12 months in prison, though an appeals process is available. Home Office figures for the year ending March 2026 show that 5,858 foreign national offenders were returned from the UK, a 13% increase on the previous year and the highest number since 2017. Furthermore, last year saw 15 additional countries added to the Home Office’s "deport now, appeal later" scheme, which permits the government to return foreign criminals to their home countries before their appeals are heard. Reform UK’s plan, however, seeks to go further, aiming to eliminate the need for foreign nationals to serve any part of their sentence within the UK’s borders.

Beyond merely freeing up spaces, Reform UK’s vision is to significantly increase the overall prison population. Zia Yusuf articulated this clearly, stating, "There will be a lot more people in prison under a Reform government." The party’s proposed legislative changes, which include reinstating short sentences for minor offences like shoplifting and ensuring all serious offenders serve their full terms, are projected to increase the prison population by an additional 18,000. These new inmates, combined with those currently occupying space, would necessitate a total of 22,000 new places. Reform asserts that its dual strategy of foreign prisoner deportation and the construction of "Nightingale" prisons would cover this demand. The party has pledged to build 12,400 new Nightingale prison spaces on Ministry of Defence land within 18 months of forming a government, estimating a cost of £5 billion over the next parliamentary term. The "Nightingale" designation harks back to the emergency temporary hospitals established during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The urgency of the situation is undeniable. As of August 3rd, the prison population in England and Wales stood at 86,495, representing 97% of useable capacity. The Ministry of Justice has issued stark warnings that the prison population is set to exceed capacity as early as November, further exacerbating the crisis that Reform UK aims to tackle.

Labour has dismissed Reform’s proposal as "not a serious prison plan," arguing that "Nigel Farage knows full well that renting prison places overseas would take years to arrange and does nothing to tackle the pressures we face now." A spokesperson for the Labour Party highlighted their own commitment to building 14,000 additional prison places and pointed to their record of removing 10,000 foreign criminals since the 2024 election, a 36% increase on the preceding 21 months. While Reform UK presents its plan as a radical solution to a critical problem, its feasibility, ethical implications, and the timeline for implementation remain subjects of intense debate and scrutiny.