Number of prisoners nearing a historic low

The current total is 75, 69 men and six women, down from an average of 100 in 2018, and governor John De Carteret said this was down to low reoffending rates, and work being done in the prison to reinforce this, through vocational skills and education around drugs and alcohol.

‘I like to think part of the reason for the low number of inmates is the reconviction rates, which are very favourable compared to other jurisdictions,’ he said.

‘It has been a big success to embed drug and alcohol services within the prison. For the first time we have been running group sessions and these have been very successful.’

In recent years prison numbers have generally only been so low during lockdown and immediately after in 2021.

Guernsey’s prison population in terms of inmates per 100,000 people sits at 113, compared to 135 in Jersey, 159 in the UK, and 505 in the USA.

Prisoners are categorised in four categories, A to D depending on risk, with A being the highest.

Guernsey has no category A prisoners but 44% of the island's prison population are are category B. Eight prisoners are serving terms of more than seven years. In the UK, category C is most common.

Mr De Carteret said this level was not high historically. ‘This has been part of the change, we have fewer people in the prison but they are here for more serious crimes, and with categorisation we do tend to be risk-averse.’

Of the prison population of 75, 35 are serving time for drugs offences, 15 for violent offences and 10 for sexual offences.

The prison can take up to 134 prisoners, but numbers have been falling steadily since 2018. At that time the cost per prisoner, based on full capacity, was £42,000 a year.

Mr De Carteret was appointed in May 2020, just before the island came out of the first Covid lockdown, having previously held the role in an acting capacity for nine months.

'I felt we dealt with Covid very successfully. We had excellent support from the Health & Social Care team, and disruption was limited.’

He felt that there had been some positives from the experience.

‘The pandemic actually gave us an unexpected breathing space for reflection and to review our regime, in terms of what made up our core day, and restructuring it. It also left us with a buoyant employment market, which does help those leaving prison on seeking employment, which helps to keep down re-offending.

‘Our biggest problem for inmates leaving is one the whole island faces, a lack of suitable accommodation.’

Mr De Carteret’s thoughts were reflected in a recent report from charity Guernsey Caring for Ex-Offenders, which highlighted a lack of accommodation options as the greatest obstacle in preventing re-offending.

He said that the prison inmates and staff were now looking forward to spring.

‘The start of the horticultural season brings a huge lift. A lot of our kitchen produce comes from our own garden. It’s a popular activity.’