Prisoners Released on Licence
| Published date | 01 April 1996 |
| Date | 01 April 1996 |
| DOI | 10.1177/0032258X9606900208 |
| Author | Martin Gosling |
| Subject Matter | Article |
MARTIN GOSLING
Senior Probation Officer, HMP Norwich
PRISONERS RELEASED ON
LICENCE
Introduction
Police officers will know that there have been many changes to the rules
surrounding the release of sentencedprisoners. The 1991 Criminal Justice
Act did away with the concept of remission and radically altered the
arrangements for parole that had been in place since 1967.
Previous Arrangements
Until the implementation
ofthe
1991 Act, prisoners serving sentences of
more than one month were eligible for one third remission. This was a
privilege to be earned and on direction of the Governor or the Board of
visitors, days could be lost through misconduct. Parole, as set up under the
1967 Act (s.60), was also a privilegeavailable to prisoners who had served
one-third or 12months, whichever was longer, and who were considered
suitable by a local review committee and the parole board. Parolees were
supervised by the probation service from the time of their release to the
two-thirds stage of their sentence and could be recalled to prison by the
Home Office if licence conditions were breached or by the court if a fresh
offence was committed during the period of supervision.
The Need for Change
The Carlisle committee was established in the light of the many
inconsistencies and anomalies that were becoming apparent by the early
1980s. Parole was perhaps seen as a tool for regulating the size of the
prison population and as an inducement to good behaviour. Inpractice, the
system of local review committees and the process of decision-making
was cumbersome and seen by both prisoners and victims as unfair and
secretive. The Carlisle Report introduced the concept of sentences being
served partly in custody and partly in the community. The discretionary
aspect of early release would be severely reduced and reserved only for
more serious offenders. This shaped the philosophy that underpins that
part of the 1991Criminal Justice Act which aimed to link thetreatment and
training of offenders in prison with the goals oftheirsupervision on licence
in the community - a framework designed to reduce the likelihood of
reoffending.
The New Arrangements
Sections 32-51 ofthe 1991 Criminal Justice Act brought in, interalia, the
conceptof early release. Distinction is made between short and long-term
prisoners with the short-term category being sub-divided into those
released unconditionally and those subject to licence conditions. (Different
arrangements apply to young offenders, special hospital orders and life
sentence prisoners.)
April 1996 The Police Journal 147
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