A British parliamentarian is livid that Jamaica refused his country’s £25-million offer to help fund construction of a new prison, allowing nearly 600 Jamaicans incarcerated in the UK to be returned to the island to complete their sentences.
UK news company, The Sun, today reported that Philip Hollobone, a Member of Parliament in the British Conservative Party, last night lashed out at the Jamaican government for their decision.
“The reaction from the Jamaican government is a complete disgrace,” Hollobone was quoted as saying.
“Their Ambassador should be called in and urgent arrangements should be made or some other solution to deport convicted Jamaican nationals who are taking prison places in our own jails.
“If they won’t accept them we should send the Jamaican government a bill for their annual incarceration,” he added.
Minister of Foreign Affairs, Senator Kamina Johnson Smith told the Senate in January that the Government had decided not to accept the offer made by then British Prime Minister David Cameron during his two-day working visit to Jamaica in September 2015.
She said her Administration did not believe that the terms of the offer would be beneficial to Jamaica as a whole.
The deal would have saved British taxpayers around £10 million a year after the prisoners, who cost around £30,000 annually, return to the island.
However, the Prime Minister Andrew Holness Administration maintained that the deal would be more beneficial to the UK than Jamaica.
Minister of National Security Robert Montague, after the rejection of the deal in January, told the Jamaica Observer that, “The cost of the facility is £40-plus million, the gift is £25 million. Jamaica and the taxpayers of Jamaica would have to find the rest. That would call for increased taxes on the already overburdened taxpayers.”
The Sun further reported that a British government spokesperson last night said: “We note and respect the decision of the Jamaican government.
“We will continue to work with them to deliver the return of Jamaican nationals from UK prisons to Jamaica and we remain committed to an excellent bilateral relationship across a range of issues, including security and prisoner transfers.”
Recent figures, according to The Sun, suggest there are almost 600 Jamaican prisoners in British jails with many convictions related to drugs and violence.
Meanwhile, Hollobone believes that a similar scheme to the one offered to Jamaica should be issued to other countries.
“The idea of spending foreign aid money in which we would return foreign national offenders is a good one and should be rolled out to other countries who have large numbers of foreign nationals in our prisons,” he was quoted by The Sun.
This smeagle looking arse bad typically effed up teeth fool gave me the laugh of the month. Lolzzz the dreamer sey send Jamaica a bill fi UK keeping “OUR” prisoners. ..send it mi Mp dweet boss..now now to lolzz.
See him look like him come from a generation a deckhands.
We no pay bills we neva run up! :alay
F#%&k him self and we set robbaz and miche boo dem pon him credit :hammer
Wid all the problems dem a face over deh look how far him reach! You see like how mi like how Kamina Johnson a gwaan a want har answer him rass and done him proper! Mek she tell England seh we a look fi di money dem mek offa we forefathers dem!
A fool dem tek Jamaica fah..keep dem there and feed dem Jamaica cannot afford it
How long do you think they are going to keep them there? Sooner or later they will be sentencing these criminals to minimum sentences and then deport them. Or a Donald Trump of the UK will rise and just deport them without any prison time. We need more prison beds in Jamaica and stop the practice of letting murderers out on bail to commit more murders.
The common sense approach is to negotiate with the UK government to pay the 40 million full cost of the prison. These criminals are coming back to Jamaica one way or another whether we like it or not. Better we find a way to contain them for awhile. Common sense must prevail.
Anywhere you do the crime you do the time ,when dem finished the time they deport dem back to their country
Jamaica gonna need more than prison fi di mass deportation from all over the world and especially some female prisons too fi di likes of Robbas, Apple, Twinny, etc
If I didn’t know better, I’d say this was fake news. A who him man? Never heard of this dude, He is shit stirring to draw attention to his retarded looking ass. Pure fkery him a chat. The UK government has the power to deport these prisoners without incarcerating them or releasing them early if they don’t want the expense. yeah let’s build a prison and let the Jamaicans pay for it! thats after we target and arrest them for doing anything illegal, including working, and seized all their assets under proceeds of crime act. Let’s make Britain great again! A want spit inna him face, but I take comfort in knowing some dirty ass rent boy might already be shitting in it.