Lord Huntasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether the "restricted policy" will be ended on 1st October 1992, as envisaged in paragraph 6.23 of the White Paper Crime, Justice and Protecting the Public; and, if so, whether it will be ended for existing prisoners as well as for those sentenced on or after 1st October 1992.
The Minister of State, Home Office (Earl Ferrers)The Government have recently completed a review of the operation of the restricted policy, which applies to those who are sentenced to more than five years for an offence involving violence, sex, arson or drugs. This has had the effect of restricting parole eligibility to a few months at the end of the sentence, which was waived only in exceptional circumstances.
The impending abolition of the policy was announced in the White Paper Crime, Justice and Protecting the Public, published in February 1990, which set out proposals for a wide change to new parole procedures in all cases to make sure that the length of sentence served would be more closely related to the length of sentence imposed by the court.
The Government have decided that the restricted policy should now end for all prisoners. The Parole Board will of course continue to review each case carefully to ensure that full and proper account is taken of the need to protect the public in all their decisions.