Poles form the second-largest group of foreign prisoners in the UK according to data analysts statista.com, with around 900 serving sentences.
The British government is now hoping to repatriate them, along with Romanian prisoners, to free up space in the jam-packed cells with UK’s Justice Minister Lord Ponsonby set to discuss the matter with Polish officials.
The proposal, which already applies to Albanian prisoners, involves prisoners voluntarily consenting to return and receiving financial support.
Under the current scheme, repatriated inmates are granted pocket money equivalent to approximately £30 per day.
Experts note that while such agreements will not immediately resolve overcrowding, they represent a step toward long-term management of prison capacity in the UK.
But questions have risen over whether Poland is prepared for an influx of returning prisoners, with experts saying that while the scheme could reduce the burden on the UK, Polish authorities will need to assess the capacity and resources of their prison system to manage an increase in inmate numbers effectively.
The news comes after a senior justice ministry official in the Polish government said she wanted to reduce the number of inmates in Polish jails to deal with overcrowding.
Maria Ejchart told the Rzeczpospolita newspaper in March: “My goal for this [four-year government] term is to reduce the number of prisoners by 20,000.
“Prisons are overcrowded. The reason is primarily the severity of the law and the policy of the previous government, according to which all crimes should be punished with imprisonment.”
According to the Polish state prison service, Poland had just over 78,000 people in its prison system as of May 2023.
