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Home Office

Answer

Lorna Fitzsimons: To 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] Mr. George Howarth: Eligibility 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.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

90114; 335 c104-5W

Session

1998-99

Subjects

Prisoners Prisoners' release Probation orders Risk assessment Prisoners' home leave