Ten of the long term prisoners at the Isle of Man Prison provided an off-island home address.
From 1 January 2022 to date, 21 long-term detainees have been transferred off-island.
A long-term detainee is defined as a person serving a sentence of custody for four years or more.
This information came to light in response to a written question from Juan Watterson MHK.
A breakdown of whether the addresses were in the UK or further afield was not given.
Prisoners in Question
In a written question, Juan Watterson MHK asked the Minister for Justice and Home Affairs Jane Poole-Wilson several questions regarding prisoners.
Mr Watterson wanted the following questions answered:
- How many long term prisoners are from off Island;
- How many have been repatriated to their country of origin in the last three years;
- What obstacles there are to further repatriations.
Numbers
The Minister for Justice and Home Affairs responded, “In order to provide the figure requested by the Honourable Member, a search of the Prison systems has been conducted to find prisoners where a home address has been provided which is not in the Isle of Man.
“As at 22 November 2025, the number of long-term detainees who provided an off-Island home address is 10. From 1 January 2022 to date, 21 long-term detainees have been transferred off-Island.”
When a prisoner requests a transfer, the Prison works with the Cross Border Transfer section in His Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) in order to determine eligibility for transfer and then, if eligible and agreed, complete the transfer.
Transfer of Prisoners
Where a transfer is sought, the Cross Border Transfer section will usually consider the following conditions as a minimum (although this list is not exhaustive):
- That the prisoner is a national of the country to which transfer is sought;
- That the sentence ls final and enforceable (i.e. there are no outstanding appeals or
- other legal proceedings);
- That the prisoner has at least 6 months of the sentence left to serve;
In transferring prisoners to the UK, the Isle of Man is currently limited to one prisoner transfer per month due to prisons capacity pressures there.
This limitation constrains the pace of repatriations, but work is ongoing with HMPPS to ensure an effective and efficient process.
This limitation does not include those under exclusion or deportation orders. Repatriation of prisoners must be in accordance with international law.
International treaties and bi-lateral agreements providing for the transfer of prisoners to a country of origin, other than the UK, would need to be in place for transfer to be considered.
