AUSTIN, Texas, Feb. 17 (UPI) -- Texas officials are negotiating to deport about 100 British citizens being held in the state's prison system in order to relieve overcrowding.
There may be a catch because Gov. Rick Perry is concerned that they might be released on parole earlier than they would be in Texas, the Austin American-Statesman reported Thursday.
Texas actively participated in a repatriation program until 1990. More than 10,000 of Texas' 150,000 prison inmates list a foreign place of birth or citizenship, prison officials say.
"There are a hundred or more British citizens occupying prison beds in Texas. There are thousands more from other countries," said Senate Criminal Justice Committee Chairman John Whitmire, D-Houston, whose committee will meet with British officials.
Perry has the final say on prisoner deportation and his aides say there are public safety and justice issues. They say there is concern that some prisoners might be set free because sentences are shorter in Britain.
