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Prisoners and families
Not necessarily. The Parole Board will only interview prisoners when they decide they need to. If this happens, you will be told. You will usually be alone at this interview. However, if you have difficulty in speaking or understanding English, you should either have access to an interpreter/signer, or exceptionally, another prisoner who speaks the same language as you.
The test for release requires the Board to consider primarily the risk that the prisoner poses of committing further offences (of any nature) when he or she would otherwise be in prison and whether such risk is acceptable. The Board must balance this risk against the benefit, both to the public and the offender of early release under supervision, which might help rehabilitation and so lessen the future risk of re-offending.
The Board must also take into account that safeguarding the public may often outweigh the benefits to the offender of early release and that a risk of further violent or sexual offending is more serious than a risk of other types of offending.
Once the Parole Board has made its decision, you should get it in writing within 2 days. If you are serving the type of sentence where the Secretary of State makes the decision, it may take a little longer.
Every decision is in a letter with full reasons given. If you do not get parole (often called a "knockback") you will want to read the reasons carefully to see if there is anything you want to challenge. You cannot get the decision changed just because you disagree with it, but in some cases the Parole Board may re-consider its decision if there are good reasons for doing so. Many prisoners ask their solicitor to help decide if this can be done.
The Board is required to give full written reasons for its decisions. The reasons must cover all relevant issues and leave the prisoner in no doubt as to how the panel arrived at its decision. In addition, reasons must identify the issues that argue for and against release and deal with those issues and specify what remain as outstanding concerns to the Board. The reasons will be the only record of why the panel came to the decision that it did and they must explain this clearly, both for the benefit of the prisoner and of any subsequent panel.
If you have been told that you will be deported at the end of your time in prison, you will be released in the same way as everyone else, although it is possible that you will be held in custody by the Immigration Service, while arrangements for you to be deported from the United Kingdom are put in place.
It depends. The Parole Board has to decide whether you will commit crimes on parole. Part of that decision depends on where you are going to live and the plans that the probation service has for supervising you. If there are no such plans because you have no address, it makes it harder for the Parole Board to decide. If you do not know where you are going to live, speak to your Offender Supervisor who can offer you advice.
It depends on what they are for, how many you have, and how long ago they happened. Every case is different, but the Parole Board has to take into account your behaviour in prison.
Again, it depends. The Parole Board has to give you credit for good behaviour but you do not get parole just because you have behaved well. The Parole Board has to take account of many different reports to decide whether an offender is likely to commit more crimes on release.
Although successful attendance on courses aimed at reducing offending behaviour is helpful in providing evidence that the level of risk that a prisoner presents has been reduced, this is by no means a guarantee that the prisoner will be recommended for release. Attendance on courses might not be necessary and, even if necessary, might not have been effective in reducing the level of risk. The Parole Board panel will need to take into account all the evidence available to them, including professional risk assessments, when making their decision.
Many prisoners come to their parole review without getting on to important courses or programmes. The Parole Board will give you credit for wanting to do courses, but they will also have to think how important it is that you have not done them. If the Parole Board decides that you are likely to commit crimes on parole, then they have to refuse to release you, even if it is not your fault that courses were not available. The Parole Board will look at everything you have done and everything in the dossier and decide in your case what the chances are of more crimes being committed.
Yes. The Parole Board must by law, accept that you are guilty, but they may still be able to decide that you will not commit crimes on parole. The trouble is that some courses in prison involve you talking about your offences and that cannot happen with prisoners who say they are innocent. That means the Parole Board's job is more difficult but it does not necessarily mean you won't get parole. The Parole Board does release people who say they are innocent every week. In fact if the Parole Board refuses parole only because you say you are innocent, you can challenge that decision and make them look at your case again.
Governors are asked not to transfer you in this situation, but sometimes there are good reasons why someone must be transferred. If that happens, reports should still be written, and it should be by those people who know you best. It should not delay your review.
The Parole Board has to take into account the victim's feelings if they want to make comments, but it would very rare for a victim to have any say on release. This is because usually the victim will not know what you have done in prison and how you might have changed. It is likely, however, that the Parole Board will put conditions on your licence to stop you going near the victim, and to stop you going to certain places where the victim lives or works.
Once you have the Parole Board decision, it will be up to the prison and the Probation Service to make sure the release plans are in place. The prison will also need to prepare your licence. If it is your first review, you should expect to be released on the day of your PED, the earliest date you can be released, but this can be delayed if the release plans are not in place. If you do not get parole at your first application, and your sentence is long enough, you will get another review every year. If you get parole at one of these reviews, you will be released as soon as the arrangements are in place.
If something happens that the prison thinks the Parole Board should know about (for example an adjudication or transfer from open conditions back to closed conditions), the Parole Board can suspend your parole until a fresh panel has looked at your case again. This will mean a delay in releasing you, and may mean the Parole Board decides you can not now be released at this review.
There are two ways to challenge a decision of the Parole Board.
You will normally be reviewed once a year but this will depend on the length of sentence you are serving.
If you get refused parole, you will get another review in a year's time if your sentence is long enough. But the Pre-Release Section of the Ministry of Justice can order an earlier review where, for example, you have made good progress in a short time. These reviews are rarely granted, however, and would not be granted just because you have finished a course or have behaved well.
If something changes when you are on parole, your Offender Manager can apply to get one or more of your conditions changed or cancelled.
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