A prisoner from the Chagos Islands has been successfully transferred to Montserrat to complete his sentence in His Majesty’s Prison in Brades.
Responding to an inquiry from Montserrat Focus, a spokesperson from the Governor’s Office said the man arrived on Wednesday, 12 March.
However, they added that they cannot comment further on individual cases.
The prisoner is one of dozens of Tamil migrants who made their way to the United Kingdom’s remote overseas territory, the Chagos Islands, over three years ago in order to seek asylum.
The ethnic group has long faced persecution in Sri Lanka, particularly in the aftermath of the country’s civil war which ended in 2009.
They remained in a makeshift camp on the Indian Ocean island of Diego Garcia where they lived in squalid conditions as their fate was decided, the Guardian reported.
In October, the UK agreed to the transfer of the archipelago over to Mauritius and, in the meantime, offered the asylum seekers the option of relocating to the UK.
Host agreeement
At the end of last year 47 people arrived in the UK, while three, who had been imprisoned for criminal activity in Diego Garcia, remained there.
According to The Times, Dr Meirav Elimelech, deputy director of the asylum and protection unit in the Home Office, said the men had “no right of entry into the UK”.
“Admitting individuals with a propensity to criminal behaviour therefore creates an inevitable risk to those in the UK arising from further offending or reoffending,” the newspaper reported that she said.
In November, Premier Reuben Meade revealed that the Government of Montserrat had consented to host the three prisoners.
“Apparently, there was a discussion with the previous premier, and he said yes. Because he had said yes, it would not be right for us to say no,” he told journalist Mike Jarvis.
He said Montserrat’s position with the UK is: “You scratch my back, I scratch yours.”
“So what is in it for Montserrat? I can’t disclose that, but what I can assure you is that those prisoners, once they have served their sentences, they will have to leave Montserrat,” he added.
One prisoner
Speaking on ZJB Radio on 4 March, Meade confirmed that only one of the prisoners is now being hosted in Montserrat.
“For the time being, it’s the one individual, because, the other prisoners, their sentences were considered too short for the expenditure which has to be met just to cover short term prisoners,” Meade said.
The Times reported that the man is serving three-years in prison for sexually assaulting a child.
Meade added that “based on the legal agreements which we have, he will not be in a position to seek asylum in Montserrat”.
He told radio listeners that he does not understand why people are so concerned about the prisoner as “they will not be on the island”, rather they will be in prison.
The premier said foreign prisoners that had been convicted for even more serious offences had been hosted in Montserrat in the past “without all of this hooray and hoopla”.
