Reform UK has proposed sending all foreign prisoners to serve their sentences abroad, with party chairman Lee Anderson planning to visit El Salvador later this year for talks on renting prison spaces. Leader Nigel Farage claimed housing offenders in El Salvador would cost half what it costs in Britain, while home affairs spokesperson Zia Yusuf said the party would also create 12,000 new spaces through pop-up 'Nightingale' prisons.
The proposal drew sharp criticism. Amnesty International's Steve Valdez-Symonds called it a move dangerously far from practical, legal or decent policy, while Labour said Reform had no serious answers to the prisons crisis. Donald Trump has already struck a similar deportation agreement with El Salvador.
The plan comes as England and Wales' prison population reached 97% of capacity on 3 August, with 10,134 foreign nationals in custody. An early release scheme for 5,000 prisoners is due to begin in October, though the Ministry of Justice said it could not block more releases without risking system collapse.