Solicitor General Tim Le Cocq has advised Home Affairs to introduce a new law which could see Jersey signing prisoner-transfer agreements with foreign countries in an effort to send inmates home.
About 30 per cent of prisoners at La Moye are foreign, the majority coming from Portugal and Poland. It costs around £51,000 a year per prisoner at La Moye.
Jersey does not have any treaties with those countries but it has been revealed that discussions to change this are under way. The UK has a Repatriation of Prisoners Act whereby they have agreements with certain countries, but this has never been extended to Jersey.
Senator Ben Shenton, the chairman of the Public Accounts Committee, questioned the chief officer of Home Affairs about the matter during a Scrutiny hearing this week.
