§ Lorna FitzsimonsTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department for what reasons prisoners serving sentences of over four years are not eligible for home leave in their last six months of sentence before probation if they pass a risk assessment. [90114]
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§ Mr. George HowarthEligibility for resettlement licence, which replaced home leave in 1995, is set out in Prison Service Instruction 36/1995, a copy of which is in the Library. Some prisoners are automatically excluded from release on temporary licence and would not, therefore, be risk assessed. These are: category A prisoners, those subject to extradition proceedings, and those who are remanded on further charges.
In addition, a prisoner serving four years or more is not eligible for resettlement licence until he or she has completed half the single term, which is the prisoner's parole eligibility date. If the prisoner is refused parole, he or she must wait for six months after a first refusal of parole, or two months from any subsequent refusal, before being able to take resettlement leave. The purpose of a resettlement licence is to assist in the prisoner's resettlement on release from custody. Where parole is refused, this, of course, delays a prisoner's release and accordingly eligibility to take resettlement leave.
§ Lorna FitzsimonsTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans he has to introduce classification of offences for which adjudication decisions are made on prisoners to allow more precise judgment of a prisoner's behaviour in prison when considering the prisoner for probation. [90264]
§ Mr. George HowarthA prisoner's behaviour is one of the issues taken into account in assessing risk in a parole review. The weight given to any adjudications will depend on the individual prisoner and the nature and circumstances of the index offence. There are no plans to introduce a more formal system of classification.