Get your quallies in prison

Monday 23rd January 2006, 12:00AM GMT.

CRIMINALS serving prison sentences in Jersey can earn their housing qualifications while behind bars – even if they had no links to Jersey before being locked up.

That means that convicts serving long sentences for murder or rape, or drug dealers, can use their time inside towards the current 14-year qualification period, which could soon be reduced to ten years.

The Housing Department has confirmed that nothing in the current law stops such time being counted towards qualification.

Although many long-term prisoners from the UK and elsewhere opt to serve their time closer to friends and family and away from Jersey, some prisoners with no previous links here can and do stay.

Read the full story in the Jersey Evening Post. Click here for subscription details. Individual editions are also available online.