The rates of re-offending in the Isle of Man are ’remarkable’ compared with the those in the UK, according to the minister in charge of the prison.

Home Affairs Minister Bill Malarkey said it was not possible to make a direct comparison of rehabilitation/re-offending figures between prisoners in the island and the UK, because the different jurisdictions used different methodology.

But he told the House of Keys on Tuesday, that the re-offending rate in the UK, according to the prison service’s annual report, was 37.8% for adults (over 21) and 64.4% for young people.

The re-offending rate in the Isle of Man was 12.35%, ’which I think is a quite remarkable figure’.

Figures for the Isle of Man are not divided between adults and young people, the minister said, but if you put all offenders together in the UK, that would be an overall re-offending rate of 51%.

The Isle of Man prison featured recently in a documentary series. Many were critical at the way the programme appeared to make light of some of the offences committed by inmates and feared it portrayed the Isle of Man poorly.

Prison governor Bob McColm revealed he had faced a lot of personal criticism since The Best Little Prison in Britain was broadcast.

One of the things the series highlighted was the island had the lowest reoffending rate in the British Isles. Mr Malarkey said that was worthy of praise.

He told MHKs: ’I think the prison governor, who is actually sitting in the gallery, should be congratulated on the work he is doing to get the re-offending rates down.

’Our rehabilitation at the prison has changed considerably since the new prison governor has arrived, with education and probation being involved with the help that the prisoners are getting after they are released.’