§ Mr. MacKayTo ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (1) how many prisoners will be eligible for early release under the Belfast Agreement; [43944]
(2) how many of the prisoners who will be eligible for early release under the Belfast Agreement are serving life sentences. [43942]
§ Mr. Ingram[holding answer 1 June 1998]: Eligibility for release will be determined by the Sentence Review Commission. The Commissioners will consider applications against the following criteria:
- (i) whether a prisoner is serving a sentence of five years or more, including a life sentence, for a scheduled offence which has not been de-scheduled by the Attorney-General.
- (ii) that the prisoner is not a supporter of a terrorist organisation;
- (iii) that a prisoner, if released immediately, would not be likely to become a supporter of a terrorist organisation or become concerned in the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism connected with the affairs of Northern Ireland; and
- (iv) that a life sentence prisoner released immediately would not be a danger to the public.
Current estimates indicate that there are 402 prisoners serving sentences of five years or more for scheduled offences relating to terrorism in Northern Ireland including 129 life sentence prisoners without current provisional release dates. In addition, there are 20 prisoners convicted of similar offences who have been transferred to Northern Ireland from Great Britain (including seven prisoners serving life sentences).
§ Mr. MacKayTo ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland over what period prisoners would normally be released who are eligible for early release under the Belfast Agreement.[43943]
§ Mr. Ingram[holding answer 1 June 1998]: It is not possible to state in advance when life sentence prisoners will be released. Many determinate sentence prisoners who would be eligible under the scheme are already being released under current arrangements.