Prison OAPs being punished twice over

I now refer to the press report Imprisoned OAPs could be paid pension, Tuesday 10 September 2019.

A good friend of mine is in prison and an OAP, and for all his working life paid his subscriptions for his pension, and is now being denied it and receives nothing.

In effect he is being punished twice – you have to remember the prisoner of non-pensionable age loses nothing other than their liberty, it costs him/her nothing in monetary terms. This, after all, is his pension, how is this person going to be able to pay his way in life, i.e. upkeep of his house maintenance, rates, etc, etc?

Further to this, he happens to be a widower and therefore has no wife to be concerned about, but what would happen if he had a wife at home who is also an OAP, how on earth is she going to survive without his full pension coming into the household, or is the wife expected to go cap in hand and ask for benefits?

After researching I have found that many European countries pay imprisoned pensioners their full pension entitlement, so why is it Guernsey doesn’t? These countries are: France, Spain, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Germany, Holland, Norway, Portugal, Sweden, Greece and Italy, and I’m sure many non-European countries do also. I hear the usual ‘because the UK does’, do we always have to follow the UK in matters such as this?

I have made contact with numerous States deputies on the matter and was very disappointed with the response, only four of them bothered to get back to me and agree with my concerns, the ones who have made the most effort are deputies Michelle Le Clerc and Al Brouard, and I thank them for this.

In conclusion, I would like to think that this injustice to OAP prisoners will be changed and changed sooner rather then later, but I won’t hold my breath.

NAME AND ADDRESS WITHHELD.