Tirana, London reach deal on prisoner transfers

TIRANA, Aug. 1 – Albania signed an agreement with Great Britain on the transfer of the prisoners to serve their sentences in their home country.
The UK’s Prisons Minister Crispin Blunt and the Albanian Deputy Justice Minister, Brikena Kasmi in London signed a Compulsory Prisoner Transfer Agreement (CPTA) under which Albanian prisoners will be compulsorily transferred from the UK to complete their sentences in Albania.
This is the first bilateral agreement the UK Ministry of Justice has signed with a country with a large number of foreign national offenders in UK prisons. There are currently around 180 Albanian prisoners in UK prisons, of whom over 100 may be eligible for transfer under the deal.
The agreement also means that British citizens who are serving prison sentences in Albania may also be compulsorily transferred back to the UK.
The agreement will need to be ratified by the Albanian Parliament during the next parliamentary term and laid before the UK Parliament. In the meantime, the National Offender Management Service is identifying Albanian prisoners who are eligible for transfer, in preparation for making referrals to the UK Border Agency.