Albania will start implementing the agreement with Great Britain for the transfer of Albanian prisoners. According to the Ministry of Justice, 200 convicted Albanians in prisons in England and Wales, who are serving sentences of four years or more, will return in the next two years to serve the remainder of their sentences in Albanian prisons.

According to the agreement, the British side will pay housing costs for prisoners for the entire duration of their sentence in Albania and the country will then be able to increase investments for the further improvement of conditions in the penitentiary system.

The agreement was signed by Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak in December 2022 and Albania is to start implementing it after the discussions both leaders held in London in March 2023. During the bilateral meeting, Rama and Sunak agreed that a joint team between countries will carry out an assessment of the capacities of Albania’s prisons, a process that would be completed by the end of April.

However, a few days ago a BBC investigation found out that most of the Albanian citizens forcibly sent back home from the United Kingdom in 2023 were convicted of crimes there and were paid by the British government to return home.

According to the report, some were offered money in return for agreeing to deportation, and were released from prison before serving their minimum sentence, under an existing scheme used for foreign offenders. This scheme, according to a UK government document, is “a financial incentive” offered to foreign prisoners “on the proviso that they co-operate with deportation and waive their right to appeal against it”.