In a move that sounds like a travel brochure for the penal system, Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has proposed shipping all foreign prisoners abroad to serve their sentences, thereby eliminating the need for Labour's early release scheme.

Farage announced that his party is exploring rental agreements for prison spaces with third countries, including El Salvador, where Reform chairman Lee Anderson will soon visit for preliminary talks. The party also floated Kosovo, Estonia, and Lithuania as potential destinations, because nothing says 'Baltic state options' like outsourcing incarceration.

Reform claims that deporting foreign nationals and building emergency 'Nightingale' prisons would allow for tougher sentencing laws, ensuring serious criminals serve their full terms. However, Labour dismissed the plan as 'not serious,' noting that renting prison places abroad would take years to arrange and does nothing to address the immediate crisis.

Under the proposal, foreign criminals with non-custodial sentences would be deported to their home countries, while those with custodial sentences would serve their entire time either at home or in a third country if they refuse. The party hasn't clarified whether this applies to remand prisoners, who make up about a third of the 10,134 foreign nationals currently held in England and Wales (12% of the prison population). Both Farage and home affairs spokesperson Zia Yusuf dodged that question at Monday's press conference.

Farage defended El Salvador, which has the world's highest incarceration rate and houses the infamous Cecot mega-jail, against human rights concerns, saying, 'Not all of the prisons are cages.' He also claimed housing a foreign national offender in El Salvador would cost half of what it does in the UK, without providing a budget for the scheme. Instead, he asserted it would save 'billions of pounds.'

Other countries have tried similar arrangements; in 2021, Denmark paid Kosovo £12.8m annually to rent 300 prison spaces. The UK already deports foreign nationals sentenced to 12 months or more, with 5,858 removed in the year ending March 2026 (up 13% from the previous year), and 15 more countries added to the 'deport now, appeal later' scheme.

The proposal comes as Prime Minister Andy Burnham faces backlash over the early release scheme, which will free 5,000 prisoners starting in October. Burnham excluded rapists and serious child sex offenders but couldn't exclude more due to overcrowding. Notably, two killers of PC Andrew Harper remain eligible for release halfway through their 13-year sentences, sparking a petition with over 850,000 signatures. Downing Street said it's 'not possible' to exempt individual offenders.

Farage conceded Labour inherited a 'very, very difficult situation' but criticized their lack of imagination. Reform's plan also includes reinstating short sentences for shoplifters and ensuring serious offenders serve full terms, which would increase the prison population by 18,000 - covered by 22,000 places from deportations and new Nightingale prisons. These prisons, named after Covid emergency hospitals, would add 12,400 places on Ministry of Defence land within 18 months, costing £5bn.

With the prison population at 86,495 (97% of capacity) and expected to exceed capacity by November, Labour spokesperson said, 'This isn't a serious prison plan. Nigel Farage knows full well that renting prison places overseas would take years to arrange and does nothing to tackle the pressures we face now.' They touted their own efforts: building 14,000 additional places and removing almost 10,000 foreign criminals since the election, up 36%.

So, while Reform dreams of beachfront cells in El Salvador, the UK's prisons remain as crowded as ever - and the only thing being released early is perhaps Farage's imagination.