§ Mrs. Curtis-ThomasTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what methods are used by the Parole Board to assess whether an offender held in custody presents a risk which is manageable in the community, as defined under the Criminal Justice Act 2003. [159665]
§ Paul GogginsThe Parole Board considers the early release of prisoners either by means of a paper review, or by convening an oral hearing. In every case, the Parole Board is provided with a dossier of papers on behalf of the Secretary of State, which may include information about the index offence, previous offending, behaviour whilst in custody and progress on offending behaviour programmes, as well as reports prepared by probation officers, prison service staff and, where appropriate, psychiatrists or psychologists. The prisoner also has an opportunity to submit representations and, at oral hearings, give oral evidence and call witnesses.
In all cases, the Board's primary consideration is public protection. The Parole Board therefore uses all the available information to form an assessment of risk. In forming that assessment, the Board is required to take into account factors set out in the Secretary of State's Directions on the release or recall of prisoners. Copies of these Directions are to be found in the House Library, in Prison Service Order 6000 and Prison Service Order 4700.
The provisions of the Criminal Justice Act 2003 in respect of the release of determinate sentence prisoners and dangerous prisoners have not yet been implemented. The new release arrangements for mandatory life sentence prisoners, pursuant to section 275 of the 2003 Act were introduced on 18 December 2003. In light of these changes, we are currently reviewing the Secretary of State's Directions for the release of all life sentence prisoners and a statement will be made in due course.