Britain gives £58m aid to prisons abroad in countries despite crisis in own jails

Britain is handing out £58million in assist to reform jails overseas regardless of the disaster in our personal jail system.

Taxpayers' cash has been given to China, the world's second largest economic system, to assist handle its brutal detention centres, the place there are harrowing stories of torture and suspicious deaths.

And prisons in Somalia - probably the most corrupt nation on the planet - have been handed greater than £1million, though officers are warned of a 'sure' threat that assist money to the East African nation results in the fingers of terror teams linked to Islamic State and Al Qaeda.

 Britain is handing out £58million in assist to reform jails overseas regardless of the disaster in our personal jail system (pictured, rioting prisoners at HMP Swaleside in Kent)

The Every day Mail has additionally discovered funds from UK officers to assist Serbian prisoners do gardening and to fund stitching lessons for 20 male convicts in Sudan.

And funds have gone to assist enhance Indian jails though it's the world's fastest-growing economic system and has despatched a mission to Mars.

Final night time, MPs renewed requires the Authorities to scrap its controversial £12.2billion international assist funds – saying it 'beggars perception' that taxpayers are funding jails in corrupt nations whereas UK prisons are in disaster.

Yesterday, officers regained management of HMP Swaleside on the Isle of Sheppey, Kent, after 60 inmates rioted.

It's the newest in a sequence of terrifying uprisings towards jail guards, who illegally went on strike this 12 months over fears for his or her security.

Senior MPs and campaigners have additionally referred to as on the Prime Minister to place susceptible British individuals first by utilizing the international assist funds to deal with the aged care disaster within the UK.

Prisons in England are at breaking level after funding cuts of about £120million per 12 months since 2010.

Pictured, footage from inside HMP Swaleside reveals an inmate clutching pool desk balls after prisoners barricaded themselves in throughout this week's riot

However on the similar time, officers have doled out enormous quantities of taxpayer funds to assist enhance jails overseas.

Greater than £33million has been spent since 2009 on international jail companies in a minimum of 61 nations.

And an additional £25million has been pledged from the help funds to construct a jail in Jamaica.

The UK has spent £785,000 on assist to china's jail system, in an obvious effort to persuade the nation's Authorities to introduce a extra 'human rights method' to its prisoners.

An official report into one of many initiatives conceded that expectations 'may have been extra practical'.

China – which has lengthy confronted accusations of torturing and murdering prisoners – was given £60,000 in direction of its 'sunshine pre-trial detention centres'.

Greater than £33million has been spent since 2009 on international jail companies in a minimum of 61 nations.  Pictured, riot-trained guards exterior HMP Swaleside 

Whereas the nation's prisons are notoriously secretive, these centres have been opened as much as journalists in an obvious PR train.

The journalists have been informed prisoners aren't tortured however truly get pleasure from 'birthday noodles, counselling rooms and chess matches'.

Somalia has been handed £1.2million in direction of its prisons, though it's ranked as probably the most corrupt nation on the planet by revered marketing campaign group Transparency Worldwide. The cash went by way of the United Nations.

The Mail revealed this week how international assist goes to Somalia regardless of a few years of warnings that assist cash is liable to being 'taxed' by terror teams. An inside 'threat register' discovered a 'sure' threat of funds ending up within the fingers of extremists.

Different nations within the checklist of probably the most corrupt which have acquired assist cash for prisons embody Afghanistan, Sudan, Libya, Uzbekistan, Venezuela and Turkmenistan.

The UK additionally gave a Sudanese group £15,000 in direction of vocational coaching for convicts, with half being spent on a stitching workshop for 20 male prisoners at Kober Jail in north Khartoum.

Some £10million has been spent on easing overcrowding in 35 jails in Bangladesh and £900 was spent shopping for bushes and shrubs for Serbian inmates to make use of for gardening.

The UK has additionally pledged to spend £25million on constructing a jail in Jamaica in order that international criminals will be despatched dwelling to serve sentences within the Caribbean. No cash has but been spent on this mission.

In the meantime, considerations have been mounting concerning the state of jails in England – with terrifying riots blamed on a poisonous cocktail of a rising jail inhabitants, inmates locked up for longer intervals, cuts to employees and the growing use of authorized highs.

Annual spending on the general public jail service has been lower in recent times from £2.4billion to 1.8billion.

Tory MP Peter Bone stated: 'It beggars perception that we're paying for prisons for corrupt regimes when now we have such horrible issues with our jails at dwelling. It's extraordinary and it's incorrect.

'But once more, the Authorities is doling out cash simply to fulfill the international assist funds.'

Philip Hollobone, additionally a Conservative MP, stated: 'China is the largest economic system on the planet. We ought to be giving zero assist to China. China has a lot of its international nationals in our jails which they aren't taking again. The priorities are far and wide.

'Readers can be in despair that taxpayers' cash ought to be diverted to those initiatives abroad. The Authorities must take pressing motion.'

John O'Connell, chief government of the TaxPayers' Alliance, added: 'Each single penny of Britain's assist have to be used to make odd peoples' lives higher. The Division for Worldwide Growth has a poor document of delivering worth with taxpayers' cash, too usually judging the success of initiatives by how a lot and the way shortly they will spend our cash - relatively than what it truly achieves.'

The Authorities stated there can be a significant shake-up of the jail system within the UK, backed by £100million a 12 months and a couple of,500 further frontline jail officers, in addition to new safety measures to deal with drones, telephones and medicines.

A spokeswoman added: 'Spending on prisons abroad immediately advantages the UK and is a key a part of our work countering terrorism and extremism at supply to guard our nationwide safety.

'It improves our capability to return international nationwide prisoners to their dwelling nations and it's important to our human rights work supporting the rule of regulation and good governance abroad.'

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