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Adjournment debate on Tuesday, 20 October 2009, in the House of Commons, led by Nick Palmer. The answering member was Maria Eagle.


Prisoner Release Decisions

Westminster Hall adjournment debate on prisoner release decisions.


Secondary information

Type
Parliamentary proceeding
Reference
497 c201-22WH 
Session
2008-09
Department
Ministry of Justice
Chamber / Committee
Westminster Hall
Proceeding contributions
Alistair Carmichael | 497 c213-4WH (Link to this contribution) Again, we are in the realms of competing interests. Many people might feel that would have been a pr...
Speaker | 497 c210WH (Link to this contribution) Order. It is not a matter of my not wanting to hear the case discussed; I said only that it should b...
Show all contributions (52)
John Robertson | 497 c210WH (Link to this contribution) I apologise, Mr. Olner, and will continue with my figures. In Northern Ireland 248 prisoners have t...
Alistair Carmichael | 497 c212-3WH (Link to this contribution) I commend the hon. Member for Broxtowe (Dr. Palmer) for bringing the debate, and for the way he fram...
John Robertson | 497 c211-2WH (Link to this contribution) I apologise, Mr. Olner. I was totally in error in what I said, but people will get the gist of what ...
Alistair Carmichael | 497 c213WH (Link to this contribution) The question of collective reconciliation is very interesting and runs to the heart of much of what ...
Nick Palmer | 497 c213WH (Link to this contribution) The issue is complicated enough, but does the hon. Gentleman agree that there is also the possibilit...
Pete Wishart | 497 c213WH (Link to this contribution) I am interested in the hon. Gentleman's comment about someone from a third-party country remaining i...
Pete Wishart | 497 c210WH (Link to this contribution) It is fascinating that we are kicking around these figures once again, but perhaps the hon. Gentlema...
John Robertson | 497 c210WH (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman talks about full criteria, and of course the full criteria would apply to anybody...
Speaker | 497 c210WH (Link to this contribution) Order. We will not go through that argument in the debate today.
Maria Eagle | 497 c208WH (Link to this contribution) Some 28 per cent. of applications for compassionate release are granted in England and Wales.
Pete Wishart | 497 c208WH (Link to this contribution) I am sorry to say to the Minister that I do not know what that figure is, but I am sure that she wil...
Maria Eagle | 497 c208WH (Link to this contribution) Would the hon. Gentleman like to tell hon. Members what the figure is in England and Wales as well a...
Pete Wishart | 497 c208WH (Link to this contribution) Thank you, Mr. Olner; I obviously take your remarks very seriously. Any Minister, when they make de...
John Robertson | 497 c209-10WH (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is right. We are two months down the line of what was basically a three-month death s...
Nick Palmer | 497 c209WH (Link to this contribution) Does my hon. Friend agree that one difficulty about the decision was that Mr. Megrahi was released o...
John Robertson | 497 c209WH (Link to this contribution) I do not intend to make a long contribution—although it seems to get longer every time I write a not...
Pete Wishart | 497 c208-9WH (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to learn that particular fact from the Minister. In Scotland, all applications that ha...
Alistair Carmichael | 497 c207WH (Link to this contribution) I am interested to explore with the hon. Gentleman the question of what he calls due process. Does h...
Speaker | 497 c208WH (Link to this contribution) Order. Before I call the hon. Member for Perth and North Perthshire (Pete Wishart) to respond, I rem...
Pete Wishart | 497 c206WH (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the Minister for stating that. Of course, the Scottish Government's view is that it...
Maria Eagle | 497 c206WH (Link to this contribution) Is the hon. Gentleman suggesting that it would be appropriate for UK Justice Ministers to express a ...
Pete Wishart | 497 c206-7WH (Link to this contribution) If that were consistently the case, it would be okay, but unfortunately it is not. The Foreign Secre...
Nick Palmer | 497 c207WH (Link to this contribution) In view of the pressures described by the hon. Gentleman, and the intense political controversy, doe...
Pete Wishart | 497 c205-6WH (Link to this contribution) I shall try to follow your advice strictly, Mr. Olner, but I am sure that you appreciate that the de...
David Leslie Taylor | 497 c206WH (Link to this contribution) Was the hon. Gentleman as dismayed as I was by the routine and opportunistic way in which Opposition...
Pete Wishart | 497 c206WH (Link to this contribution) I am grateful for that good intervention. Yes, I was disappointed by the response from other politic...
Maria Eagle | 497 c206WH (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman said that the British Government's view is not known, but we made it clear that t...
Pete Wishart | 497 c207WH (Link to this contribution) I was just coming to that point. I noted that the hon. Gentleman said in his speech that such decisi...
Speaker | 497 c205WH (Link to this contribution) Order. That is fine, but we are discussing prisoner release decisions—the release of prisoners anywh...
Nick Palmer | 497 c203WH (Link to this contribution) Yes, I strongly agree. I, too, have come across cases where the victim of individual violence—not in...
Alistair Carmichael | 497 c203WH (Link to this contribution) I commend the hon. Gentleman for the thoughtful, measured way in which he is approaching this matter...
Nick Palmer | 497 c202WH (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to my hon. Friend for that question. It anticipates another point, which several of my...
David Drew | 497 c203WH (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend has not as yet mentioned the victim or the victim's family. I always think that the g...
David Leslie Taylor | 497 c202WH (Link to this contribution) Section 30 of the Crime (Sentences) Act 1997 deals with the power of the Secretary of State to relea...
Speaker | 497 c202WH (Link to this contribution) Order. The intervention has been well made.
Nick Palmer | 497 c201-2WH (Link to this contribution) This Adjournment debate is something of an experiment. Traditionally in Adjournment debates, as coll...
Nick Palmer | 497 c203-5WH (Link to this contribution) Ideally, yes, there would be reconciliation. Realistically, there will be cases where that is not go...
Pete Wishart | 497 c205WH (Link to this contribution) I congratulate the hon. Member for Broxtowe (Dr. Palmer) on raising this important issue, on his mea...
Nick Palmer | 497 c220WH (Link to this contribution) I am very grateful to my hon. Friend the Minister for her thoughtful response to the debate. On the ...
Maria Eagle | 497 c220-2WH (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is right. I think that the existing criteria are applied properly, and I know that a ...
Maria Eagle | 497 c219-20WH (Link to this contribution) I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Broxtowe (Dr. Palmer) on securing this important debate...
David Burrowes | 497 c218WH (Link to this contribution) As time is running short, I do not want to get into a long debate about the Government's policy in r...
John Robertson | 497 c218WH (Link to this contribution) I hear what the hon. Gentleman says, and I do not necessarily disagree with him, but such a problem ...
David Burrowes | 497 c217-8WH (Link to this contribution) I hear the point that is being made—that we can characterise the political process as jockeying and ...
Nick Palmer | 497 c216-7WH (Link to this contribution) Does the hon. Gentleman accept that the parallel that I made was not between general sickness and cr...
David Burrowes | 497 c216WH (Link to this contribution) That is a good point, particularly in connection with early release on compassionate grounds. In re...
Nick Palmer | 497 c216WH (Link to this contribution) Would the hon. Gentleman agree with my hon. Friend the Member for North-West Leicestershire (David T...
Alistair Carmichael | 497 c214WH (Link to this contribution) The assassination of our Chairman would certainly be a lot more than inappropriate. Evidence that pr...
David Burrowes | 497 c214-6WH (Link to this contribution) It is a pleasure to take part in this timely debate. I congratulate the hon. Member for Broxtowe (Dr...
Nick Palmer | 497 c214WH (Link to this contribution) Just to test what the hon. Gentleman has said, does he agree that the length of sentence is pretty i...
Subjects
Chronic illnesses Life imprisonment Prisoners' release Standards al Megrahi, Abdelbasit Ali Mohmed
Link
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