More women and juveniles than usual behind bars
AN UNUSUALLY high number of women and children were in Guernsey’s prison last year, according to the annual report, and prison governor John De Carteret said this had presented something of a challenge.
Overall, the average number of prisoners during the year fell to 91, compared to 100 in 2018, and Mr De Carteret said this was encouraging.
‘Despite the fall in numbers, the make-up and complexity of the population did prove to be a challenge due to a relatively large number of female prisoners and children in custody through most of the year.’
It was often the case previously that there were no women or juveniles in the prison at all, but last year there were between four and six women in custody, while there are currently two under-18s.
‘I’ve never seen that number of females in custody for a protracted period of time,’ said Mr De Carteret.
He added that in the case of juveniles, there were very few places where they were held alongside adult prisoners.
Although the idea had been mooted in the past of possibly having some Guernsey prisoners transferred to Jersey, Mr De Carteret said that, while possible, it would have to be done via the UK’s prisoner transfer system.
‘In practical terms it would not make a great deal of sense, really, since Jersey have their own issues,’ he said.
His preferred option is to send prisoners who live in the UK to a prison in their home region in order to help them better re-integrate into society upon release, and he said this had been the case with fewer than five prisoners last year.
