Rise in foreign criminals deported from UK in push to free up prison space
More foreign criminals are being removed from the UK as part of efforts to free up prison space, analysis of government figures shows.
According to Ministry of Justice (MoJ) data, 10,772 foreign nationals were detained in June this year; This number constitutes 12 percent of the total prison population.
In a bid to get foreign criminals out of prison faster, ministers this summer introduced legislation allowing foreign prisoners to be deported after serving 30 per cent of their prison time instead of 50 per cent.
Now analysis of Ministry of Justice statistics has revealed that the number of prisoners released from the country early is increasing.
The number of foreign national offenders (FNOs) removed from the UK has increased by 12 per cent year-on-year, according to transparency data published by the government this month. Approximately 5,430 FNOs were returned in the year to October 2025; The previous year, this number was 4,861. This includes both mandatory and voluntary returns.
Of these, 2,706 returns were made under the early removal plan. This is an increase of two per cent compared to the same period 12 months ago, according to government data.
It’s also up from 1,569 in the last full year of the Conservative government, according to Labor analysis.
As part of a desperate struggle to reduce prison overcrowding, foreign-born criminals have been moved from prisons to immigration detention centres.
This has led to male immigration detention centers becoming increasingly unsafe, while drug use, which was rarely a problem in the centers in the past, has also become a major concern.
A report by the Independent Monitoring Board, which oversees prisons and detention centres, earlier this year found that foreign criminals wanted to buy their own plane tickets to leave the UK but Home Office policy prevented them from leaving.
Justice Secretary David Lammy told MPs on Tuesday that “our prisons are in a very poor state” and said the removal of foreign-born criminals from property was “an issue that the public cares a lot about”.
Jake Richards, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Sentencing, Youth Justice and International, said: “The Labor government is taking radical steps to deport foreign criminals. Deportations have increased and our changes ensure they happen earlier and faster than before.”
“We will go further by rebalancing how human rights law is applied domestically and pursuing change internationally to ensure criminals do not abuse our laws.
