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Transfer of prisoners

01 January 1993

The Report of the Interdepartmental Working Group's Review of the Provisions for the Transfer of Prisoners Between UK Jurisdictions was made public at the end of November. Announcing the government's response Earl Ferrers told the House of Lords that the report's recommendations would be accepted in full.

The long-standing issue behind the report concerns the position of the small number of Irish prisoners being held in Britain for politically-related offences. For twenty years these prisoners have been protesting against the refusal of the Home Office to transfer them back to Northern Ireland (see Statewatch vol 1 nos 2 & 4). The government has now agreed to transfer prisoners but only on a temporary basis. The prisoners and campaign groups had sought transfer as of right. The main change in policy is that crimes undeserving of public sympathy have been deleted from the criteria for refusing transfer. However, a permanent transfer can be refused on the grounds that it will result in a substantial reduction in sentence. The idea that transferred prisoners might benefit from shorter sentences because of different remission rates (up to 1989, prisoners in Northern Ireland got 50% remission) and different lifer review considerations, has meant Home Office resistance to transfer. However, under the new system, the "temporarily" transferred prisoners will remain under British the sentencing regime. Those given life sentences in Britain will serve around seven years longer than those sentenced in Northern Ireland, partly due to Leon Britain's 1983 decision that "terrorist murderers" (amongst others) should serve a minimum of 20 years.

Armstrong, Walsh and Holmes, whose situation is detailed in Statewatch vol 1 no 4, were transferred to Northern Ireland in November 1992. Meanwhile, British Army agent Brian Nelson has been transferred to a prison in Britain, amidst accusations that, as in the case of Private Thain, this is a prelude to early release.