In March 2018, following the High Court decision in the case of Worboys, the Secretary of State announced a comprehensive review of the Parole Board rules. The report, following that review, has now been published and several proposals for further reforms have now been set out.
This post is addressing the following question:
“My partner has been recalled back to prison for having a positive drug test. He volunteered to stay in a probation hostel for 3 months and to be drug tested, Will he have to do a full recall of 19 months?”
Following the revocation of his licence and recall back to prison your partner will be entitled to have a review of his detention in custody. That review will initially be carried out by the Public Protection Unit on behalf of the Secretary of State for Justice. They will look at what triggered the decision to recall and whether the recall was appropriate. They will then need to consider whether his risk could be safely managed in the community or whether his risk remains too high to be released.
His case may then be passed to the Parole Board who will decide whether he should remain in custody, the matter progress to an oral hearing or whether he should be re-released.
This is the position for someone who has received a standard or emergency recall. If your partner has received a 28 day recall he will be released after having been detained for 28 days in custody.
If the Public Protection Unit and the Parole Board fail to release your partner following the first review he will be entitled to a further review approximately 12 months later.
Therefore the maximum your partner will be detained as a result of being recalled back to custody is 19 months but he will have the opportunity of being re-released before that time.
It is important your partner obtains the help of a prison law solicitor to assist him through this process. Pickup and Scott Solicitors are experts in this area of law and would be happy to advise further.
Lisa Gianquitto
Prison Law Supervisor
Pickup and Scott Solicitors
Justice Secretary David Gauke ordered a review of Parole Board processes in January, with the purpose of increasing its transparency, restoring public confidence, and improving the treatment of victims. The findings of the urgent review have been published alongside a comprehensive package of reforms.
One immediate result of this work is the introduction of transparency to the parole process by amending Rule 25 to remove the blanket ban that prevents the Parole Board from disclosing information about its decision-making.
Will this affect you if you have a Parole Board Hearing due?
Contact our Prison Law Department for help
As you may be aware, on 2 December 2013 the Government issued widespread cuts to the Legal Aid. The act restricted the types of work we could undertake under public funding.
However, the Howard League for Penal Reform and the Prisoners’ Advice Service have spent many hours fighting to challenge this decision and in April 2017 the Court of Appeal finally ruled in their favour.
The three appeal court judges, Lady Justice Gloster, Lord Justice Patten and Lord Justice Beatson, stated:
“At a time when … the evidence about prison staffing levels, the current state of prisons, and the workload of the Parole Board suggests that the system is under considerable pressure, the system has at present not got the capacity sufficiently to fill the gap in the run of cases in those three areas.”
The Courts concluded that Legal Aid should be restored in three key areas of Prison Law:
We are pleased to confirm Legal Aid will be available for these matters from 21 February 2018
More about our Prison Law