Reform UK's Prisons Plan: Deport Foreign National Prisoners and Build Emergency Jails
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has proposed deporting all foreign national prisoners to serve their sentences abroad, either in their home countries or in third countries offering rented prison spaces, in order to scrap Labour's early release scheme.
At a press conference on Monday, Farage and Reform UK home affairs spokesperson Zia Yusuf set out plans to remove foreign nationals from the prison estate in England and Wales and build emergency "Nightingale" prisons on Ministry of Defence land. The idea borrows its name from the temporary Nightingale hospitals built during the Covid-19 pandemic — rapidly assembled facilities meant to add capacity in a crisis. Reform UK said the combined measures would free up more than 10,000 prison spaces and enable sentencing law changes so that serious criminals serve their full terms. The party said the Nightingale prisons would have capacity for approximately 12,000 people and would be built within 18 months (The Telegraph).
There were 10,134 foreign nationals held in custody in England and Wales at the end of June, representing 12% of the total prison population (BBC News). The party's policy document does not explain whether the foreign prisoner proposal would apply to remand prisoners — people held on remand are awaiting trial and have not been convicted. They make up around a third of the foreign national prison population. Both Farage and Yusuf did not address the question when asked at the press conference.
Under the plans, foreign criminals handed non-custodial sentences (such as community orders or fines, rather than prison time) would be deported to their country of origin. Foreign criminals with custodial sentences would serve their full sentence in their home country, or in a third country offering rented prison spaces if the home country refuses to accept them. Reform UK is exploring options with third countries to rent prison spaces, including El Salvador, which Reform chairman Lee Anderson would visit soon for initial talks. The party previously suggested Kosovo and El Salvador as possible destinations, and Farage suggested Estonia and Lithuania as "Baltic state options".
Labour said Reform UK had "no serious answers" to the prisons crisis and that its plans would lead the system to collapse. Farage also said Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham lacks the imagination to tackle the prisons crisis (The Telegraph).
Criminal justice policy is partly devolved in the UK. Prison and probation services in Scotland and Northern Ireland are run by their respective administrations — the Scottish Parliament at Holyrood and the Northern Ireland Assembly at Stormont — meaning the deportation scheme as described would apply only to England and Wales. The Senedd, Wales's parliament, has separate responsibilities for justice-related matters in Wales under the devolution settlement.
The broader context here is sustained capacity pressure on the prison estate in England and Wales. Reform UK's wider prison proposals, first outlined in 2025, would create around 30,000 prison places at a cost of £17.4 billion (BBC News).
The foreign prisoner deportation element raises questions about prisoner transfer agreements — bilateral arrangements between countries that govern how sentenced individuals are moved across borders to serve their time. Such agreements would need to be negotiated with each receiving country. The remand prisoner gap in the policy document is notable: individuals awaiting trial have not been convicted and cannot be treated as sentenced prisoners under existing legal frameworks. The proportion of foreign nationals on remand, and whether they would remain in UK custody or fall under the deportation proposals, remains unspecified.
Reform UK's stated figure of 10,500 foreign criminals in UK prisons, cited in its own policy materials, is slightly higher than the most recent Ministry of Justice data of 10,134 foreign nationals in custody in England and Wales at the end of June. The party claims its proposals would free up more than 10,000 prison spaces, though the absence of clarity on remand prisoners means that figure may overstate the practical impact if a third of the foreign national cohort cannot be transferred.
