HL Deb 20 January 1972 vol 327 cc261-2WA
LORD GARDINER

asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether time spent in custody as a remand prisoner counts towards:

  • (a) sentence,
  • (b) remission, and
  • (c) eligibility for parole
and, if not, why not.

LORD WINDLESHAM

Under Section 67(1) of the Criminal Justice Act 1967 the time which a prisoner spends in custody in England and Wales on remand before sentence counts towards his sentence.

Under the Prison Rules time spent in custody after conviction but before sentence attracts remission. Time spent in custody before conviction does not.

The period spent on remand does not count towards a prisoner's elegibility for parole. Section 60 of the Criminal Justice Act, 1967, provides that a prisoner may be released on licence after he has served not less than one third of his sentence or twelve months whichever expires the later, and that the period of one-third of sentence is to be calculated from the date of conviction.

My right honourable friend, the Home Secretary, is reviewing the provisions about remission.