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Minister aiming to fix 'gap' in young offender law

BBC Deputy Mary Le Hegarat, a woman with short grey hair. She is wearing a patterned blouse, which has a white base and multiple colours including pink, blue, green and yellow. She has a necklace around her neck. She is staring at the camera. Grass and trees are visible behind her and shops can be seen in the distance.BBC
Deputy Mary Le Hegarat said that current laws did not allow children and young people serving sentences in secure accommodation to be released early

Some young offenders deliberately behave badly in secure accommodation in order to be transferred to prison where there is the prospect of early release, Jersey's Home Affairs Minister has said.

Deputy Mary Le Hegarat made the claim while proposing draft changes aimed at "addressing an identified gap" in the island's laws.

She said there was no legislation for children (10-14 years) and young people (15-17 years) serving a sentence in secure accommodation such as Greenfields that entitled them to temporary or early release.

By contrast, those within a young offender institution or La Moye Prison could gain temporary release and early release at the two-thirds point of their sentence, she said.

'Family visits'

Deputy Le Hegarat had indicated earlier this year that she hoped to bring the rules for young offenders in line with those for adults.

The proposed law changes now brought forward would provide for early release for children and young people serving a sentence of youth detention in secure accommodation, she confirmed.

She added that it would also become possible for young offenders to be released temporarily to enable them to "access employment or education".

She said: "The objective is to help reduce the risk of re-offending and support the young offender to live a prosocial life.

"This could include opportunities such as family visits, engaging with the probation service and therapeutic interventions."

'Important and underlined'

Deputy Le Hegarat said that efforts to avoid children and young people entering the prison estate were "important and underlined in many sources".

She quoted the 2025 prison inspection report which said: "As the only prison in Jersey, it (La Moye) holds men, women, young offenders and, in exceptional circumstances, children though we were pleased to see that the island authorities went to great lengths to try to prevent this and it had not occurred recently".

She added that the 2017 inspection had said: "We also remain concerned that, while it is rare, there was still a chance that children under the age of 18 could be imprisoned in La Moye.

"Children should never be held in an adult prison."

Jersey's States Assembly is due to vote on the proposed law changes in early 2026.

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