Deon P. Green, Gleaner Writer
LONDON, England:
JAMAICANS MAKE up the largest single group of foreign nationals in United Kingdom (U.K.) prisons, which appear to be bursting at the seams.
The Jamaican prisoners number over 2,700, resulting in suggestions that Britain should assist in building prisons on the island allowing many to be sent home to serve their sentences.
However, the option of sending many foreign offenders home has hit a snag as there would be need for assurances that those sent home would serve the entirety of sentences handed down by the British courts. At the same time, Britain also lacks a repatriation agreement with some Caribbean islands, including Jamaica.
In September 2003, the problem of Jamaican women showing up prominently in British prisons was a topical issue as many were being used as drug couriers between the Caribbean and Britain. At the time more than half of all foreign women in U.K. prisons were Jamaican drug mules.
However, earlier this year, reports showed that the number of Jamaican women jailed for trying to smuggle drugs into the U.K. has fallen from 442 in 2002 to 136.
