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Foreign prisoners still at large Foreign prisoners still at large
(about 2 hours later)
Fifteen of the 189 serious foreign offenders freed from prison without being considered for deportation have still not been traced by the police. Fifteen of the 189 serious foreign offenders freed from prison without being considered for deportation are currently at large, it has emerged.
One of the offenders belongs to the "most serious" category, which includes murderers and rapists. They include one of the "most serious" offenders, which includes murderers and rapists, and 14 "serious" offenders.
A further four "serious" offenders who had been caught but subsequently bailed by the Asylum and Immigrations tribunal have also gone missing. A further four "serious" offenders had been caught, but were subsequently bailed by the Asylum and Immigrations tribunal and have also gone missing.
It comes as a report into the wrongful release of prisoners is published. The figures came as a report into the foreign prisoner fiasco was published.
Of the 1,013 foreign national prisoners released in total without being considered for deportation, 214 have now been removed from the UK, the Borders and Immigration Agency said.Of the 1,013 foreign national prisoners released in total without being considered for deportation, 214 have now been removed from the UK, the Borders and Immigration Agency said.
It said 329 have been judged to have the right to stay in the UK.It said 329 have been judged to have the right to stay in the UK.
And although 149 less serious offenders had not been located "given what we know about this group it is possible many of those individuals have left the country of their own volition". And although 149 less serious offenders had not been located, "given what we know about this group it is possible many of those individuals have left the country of their own volition".
The report blames failure to consider foreign national prisoners for deportation on a "financial crisis early in 2003, followed by a recruitment and budgetary freeze". 'Failure'
The report blames the failure to consider foreign national prisoners for deportation on a range of shortcomings.
It said there had been an agreement to expand the team dealing with identifying and considering foreign prisoners for deportation in 2002, but this was overturned after a "financial crisis early in 2003, followed by a recruitment and budgetary freeze".
In one sense the problems which arose were problems of success Foreign national prisoners report
This, the report says, was the result of the Comprehensive Spending Review imposing a freeze on Home Office funding.
"When new resources became available in April 2004 they were not enough to keep pace with the rapidly growing caseload," it said.
The Criminal Casework Team (CCT) had originally considered cases for deportation 12 months before offenders were released from prison.
But, the report says, "by the beginning of 2005 caseworkers were starting most cases only shortly before release, and the number of cases who were released without any consideration multiplied.
"The systems for tracking cases were weak and the extent of this failure went unrecognised."
'Critical situation'
It also blames "inappropriate" government targets, with pressure to reduce the prison population and a focus on removing failed asylum seekers increasing the workloads of staff and diverting scarce resources.
The report also catalogues a series of management errors at the Immigration and Nationality Directorate (IND).
"It was extremely unfortunate that the budget and recruitment freeze of 2003/04 delayed the staffing increase which it had been recognised as needed in December 2002," says the report.
The problems were made worse by the appointment of three senior members of staff in Summer 2004, who were not aware of how "critical the situation had been a year earlier".
And there was confusion over roles and responsibilities at the top of the enforcement and removals department.
"It was not clear whether the deputy head reported on his areas of responsibility direct to the senior director, or did so through the head of enforcement and removals.
"This ambiguity became apparent only after the crisis," the report says.
'New risks'
It also describes a complex filing system - with 13 different lockable cupboards for different categories of files - which often led to them being lost and "time wasted searching for them".
And it blames a Home Office initiative to improve the speed of response to ministers' letters from MPs for diverting resources from processing serious cases.
It also reveals that considering foreign prisoners for deportation had not been seen as a priority for the IND before 2003 - and management had been too slow to respond to a growing caseload and public concern despite it being raised a number of times at various levels of the Home Office.
"The crisis revealed a gulf between public expectations that all serious foreign prisoners would be considered for deportation, and the reality that for many years only a small fraction of cases were referred to IND and considered by them.
"To meet these expectations eventually required a more than twenty-fold increase in resources over the level of four years earlier," it concludes.
But the report also says that where only one in four foreign nationals in Britain's prisons were ever identified, now all were tracked and, if necessary, deported.
"In one sense the problems which arose were problems of success, due to the much better identification of foreign prisoners as a result of the work of the CCT support team in liaising with prisons," it says.
It says IND has now brought in a new system "which provides a fuller opportunity for new risks to be identified and escalated".
The foreign prisoner revelations led to the sacking by Tony Blair of Charles Clarke as home secretary in 2006.
Current Home Secretary John Reid said within days of taking over that the immigration department was "not fit for purpose" and has since revamped it and handed over a range of the Home Office's functions to the new Ministry of Justice.