cannot always supply detailed information about risk and reoffending. This in turn impacts on decisions about sentence progression and release. Sometimes, people are excluded from offending behaviour work or resettlement programmes because of their lack of language skills, and because facilitating interpreters is expensive. If it is believed that they will be deported they may not be a priority for a course where there are already large waiting lists. This can be a disadvantage if they have to go to the parole board or for categorisation as they cannot demonstrate that they have reduced risk. Furthermore, despite efforts by many people and considerable political pressure, the joint working systems and information sharing between the UKBA and MOJ remain inadequate. There are a number of people in prison who have finished their sentence and who would welcome repatriation. Paradoxically, although the government has said it is committed to exploring ways of removing foreign national prisoners even earlier, the delays receiving information for risk assessments from UKBA continue to impact on people making progress in their sentence. This increases the time people spend unnecessarily in prison. Welfare and family Paradoxically, although the government has said it is committed to exploring ways of removing foreign national prisoners even earlier, the delays receiving information for risk assessments from UKBA continue to impact on people making progress in their sentence. Staff are not communicate with us properly. Some of these people should not be working in prison; they stress us out too much. That’s the reason some of us hang our self…..We need help.15 There are prison staff and community-based organisations that are trying to assist foreign national prisoners and support their welfare needs. However, these efforts are hampered, not just by lack of resources and pressure to treat people as potential deportees, but by the lack of prison service policy and strategy. There are prison service instructions that detail immigration processes and the prison officers have the responsibility to facilitate these. However, there is little information for prison staff about the welfare or cultural needs of foreign national 15. 50 prisoners, and there is a lack of accessible information for staff and prisoners. Some prisons have developed their own local policies and organised their own community support, or commission voluntary sector organisations to provide advice and support. This enables a much better level of service. Since November 2011, it is no longer mandatory for prisons to allocate a dedicated member of staff as a foreign national coordinator. Recent figures show that for foreign nationals in prison, self-inflicted deaths more than doubled, rising from 6 in 2010 to 13 in 2011. The figure is the highest since 2007, and means that foreign nationals made up 23 per cent of self-inflicted deaths in prison in 2011. Although there are not greater levels of suicide amongst the foreign national population at the moment, uncertainty about deportation, indefinite detention and lack of contact with family are known as risk factors. Paradoxically because foreign national prisoners are perceived as presenting few discipline or control concerns for prison staff, they can be neglected. This population does not have enough contact with their communities in the UK and abroad. The cost of phone calls to family members in other countries for people in prison is very high and much more than people would pay for calls in the community. The prison service has made a concession to people whose family live abroad and who don’t get any visits, which is a free five minutes phone call per month. However, this is small consolation to someone whose is separated from their family. The prison service could do much more to take advantage of technology such as Skype and email to enable prisoners to maintain more meaningful contact with their families abroad. Conclusion: Legal Aid Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act and the future We are cautiously optimistic that the changes to the remand test, which should means that defendants will not be remanded unless their offences are such that they Prisoner quoted in Going the Distance Prison Reform Trust 2004: 11 Prison Service Journal Issue 205