The Parole Board. Working with others to protect the public.
Prisoners and families
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The Life Licence Information for Prisoners page contains more detailed information about the process the Parole Board goes through when determining whether you should be granted a Life Licence.
You don't have to do anything at first. A review will be set up from up to six months before you can first be released, or up to three years before that if there is time. When this is will depend upon what sentence you were given when you were convicted. You can't be released until you have served your tariff, the judge who sentenced you should have told you how long your tariff is. You can ask your prison lifer clerk, or a member of staff or your solicitor for advice.
You do not have to apply. About six months before the Parole Board is due to consider your case, the prison will start to write reports on you.
The prison will then put the reports into a file known as the dossier which will cover your time in prison and your plans for release. When this dossier is ready you will get a chance to read it and add anything you want to it in writing. You may want to get a solicitor to help you with this.
When your dossier is ready, a member of the Parole Board will read it and decide whether you should be released, or whether you should be asked to come to a hearing with your solicitor. This hearing is called an oral hearing. At an oral hearing, three members of the Parole Board (called a 'panel') will come to your location. You can also have your solicitor present at this hearing, and there might be other witnesses such as your Offender Manager and possibly your prison psychologist. The Parole Board is not part of the Prison Service and will make its own decision. The panel will be looking at how high they think the risk is that you might commit serious offences on licence.
It can take up to six months or more from the time when the review starts for the Parole Board panel to get all the right information and meet to decide your case. Once a decision has been made you will be told within a week or two.
The Parole Board will write to you in prison with their decision and with the reasons for it. If you are unhappy with any of the reasons then you should talk to your solicitor to see if you can challenge any of them.
The Secretary of State will decide when the next review will be. He cannot leave it more than two years without asking you first.
You can ask your prison parole clerk or a member of staff for help and you can also get advice from your solicitor.
Grenadier House, 99-105 Horseferry Road, London, SW1P 2DX
Telephone 0845 251 2220