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Parole Board for Scotland: CORPORATE PLAN 2002

CHAPTER 2The Work Of The Board

1. The Parole Board endeavours to ensure that those prisoners who are no longer regarded as presenting a risk to the public safety during a period of parole may serve the remainder of their sentence in the community under the supervision of a social worker. It is not the responsibility of the Board to consider the questions of punishment and general deterrence. These issues are regarded as discharged, in the case of determinate sentence prisoners, when a case is referred to the Board by the Scottish Ministers and on which the judiciary has deliberated in indeterminate prisoners' cases.

Determinate Sentence Prisoners

2. The Scottish Ministers refer to the Board a dossier in respect of every prisoner who is eligible to be considered for parole, unless a prisoner declines to be so considered. Such dossiers contain details of:

the full name and date of birth of the prisoner;

the establishment at which the prisoner is detained;

the prisoner's current sentence or sentences and an indication of the offence or offences for which that sentence or those sentences were imposed;

any other offences of which a court has found the prisoner guilty together with a note of the sentence or other disposal ordered on such findings;

reports prepared by those involved in supervising, caring for or counselling the prisoner which describe the prisoner's circumstances (including home background) and behaviour and on his/her suitability for release on licence; and

information about the prisoner's plans, including employment prospects, on release.

3. At the same time as the dossier is referred to the Board, the Scottish Ministers send a copy to the prisoner. The prisoner is invited to submit to the Board any written representations about the terms of the reports contained in the dossier and is asked to state whether or not he/she wishes to be interviewed by a member of the Board. In the event of the prisoner requesting an interview, he/she will be interviewed by a Board member and be provided with a copy of the report of that interview. The prisoner's written representations and the report of the interview are incorporated in the dossier and, several days before the prisoner's case for early release is due to be considered at a meeting of the Board, a copy of the dossier is forwarded to each member who is scheduled to attend that meeting in order that they may fully acquaint themselves with the circumstances of the case. The Parole Board Rules provide that the powers of the Board may be exercised by any 3 members of the Board, but in general terms seven members of the Board attend each case work meeting.

4. In the event of the Board recommending that a prisoner be granted parole, Scottish Ministers are, in circumstances where the prisoner has been sentenced to a term of less than 10 years' imprisonment, obliged to accept the recommendation. The licence runs from the date on which the prisoner is released until the end of the sentence. In cases where the prisoner has been sentenced to 10 years' imprisonment or more, Scottish Ministers are not obliged to accept the Board's recommendation, but are required to exercise their discretion reasonably. In practice, it is exceptional for the Scottish Ministers to decline to accept a recommendation from the Board.

5. Scottish Ministers also refer to the Board information received from supervising officers and/or the police where the licensees' behaviour in the community suggests that they may present an unacceptable risk to the public. In such cases the Board may recommend that the licensee is recalled to custody.

Life Prisoners

6. Part 1 of the Convention Rights (Compliance) (Scotland) Act 2001 brought the arrangements for considering the release of adult mandatory life prisoners into line with the procedures for dealing with other classes of life prisoners. With effect from 8 October 2001 all life prisoners who have served the punishment part of their sentence must have the grounds for their continued confinement considered by a Tribunal of the Board.

7. A Tribunal of the Board consists of three members of the Parole Board For Scotland, appointed by the Chairman of the Board. The Chairman of the Tribunal must hold, have held or be qualified to hold judicial office.

8. A life prisoner is entitled to require Scottish Ministers to refer his case to the Parole Board once the punishment part, that is the period fixed by the courts to satisfy the requirements of retribution and deterrence, ignoring the period of confinement, if any, which may be necessary for the protection of the public, has been served.

9. In considering the case of a life prisoner a Tribunal has the power to direct Scottish Ministers to release the prisoner if it is satisfied that it is no longer necessary for the protection of the public that the prisoner should be confined.

10. In referring life prisoners' cases to the Board, Scottish Ministers also request advice on certain matters in the event that no direction to release the prisoner is made. These matters are:

the degree of risk posed by the prisoner and the steps needed to address this;

the desirability of transfer of the prisoner to different conditions within the options available; and

11. It is for the Tribunal, where it does not direct release, to fix the date on which it will next consider the prisoner's case. The Parole Board may, however, at the request of a life prisoner in respect of whom it has fixed the date of the next consideration of his case, direct the Scottish Ministers to refer that case to the Board before that date.

Extended Sentence Prisoners

12. Section 86 of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 introduced provisions to allow courts to impose additional post-release supervision on certain offenders where they consider such action to be necessary. The criterion for imposing the additional supervision, which forms part of an "extended sentence" is that any existing supervision would not be enough to protect the public from serious harm from the offender.

13. An extended sentence may be imposed in indictment cases on:

sex offenders who would have received a determinate custodial sentence of any length; or

violent offenders who would have received a determinate custodial sentence of 4 years or more.

14. The maximum length of the extension period is 10 years for sex offenders and 5 years for violent offenders. There are two other restrictions, namely:

if the sentence is imposed by a sheriff sitting with a jury, the maximum extension period is restricted to 3 years; and

the maximum length of the whole extended sentence cannot exceed the statutory maximum for that offence.

15. Scottish Ministers consult the Parole Board about the additional conditions that are to be attached to the release licences of extended sentence prisoners where the combined custodial part and the extension is 4 years or more.

16. Scottish Ministers refer to the Board all cases where an extended sentence prisoner has been recalled to custody.

17. In considering the case of grounds for recall of an extended sentence prisoner the Board, in recommending that the offender's licence be revoked, must be satisfied that such action is necessary in order to protect the public from serious harm from the offender. In the event of an extended sentence prisoner being recalled to custody, the case for re-release must be considered by a Tribunal of the Board. The Tribunal, if not recommending immediate re-release, must be satisfied that it is necessary to hold the offender in custody in order to protect the public from serious harm.

Non-Parole Licences

18. Offenders sentenced to a term of 4 years' imprisonment or more on or after 1 October 1993, who are not released on parole, are released on licence at the two thirds stage of their sentence and the licence runs to the sentence end date. The term non-parole licence is used to describe this non-discretionary period of supervision in the community. Offenders released on non-parole licence are mainly those prisoners whose conduct in prison and circumstances indicate that there is an unacceptable risk of re-offending on release. In general terms there will be indications that they have done little or no work on the factors such as drug or alcohol abuse which lay behind their offending, there may be evidence that they have continued with substance abuse in prison, they may have a history of failure during previous periods of supervision or they may have declined to be considered for early release on parole.

19. Scottish Ministers consult the Board about the terms of any additional conditions to be attached to the licences of prisoners who are released at the two thirds stage of their sentence.

20. Scottish Ministers also refer to the Board information received from licensees' supervising officers and/or the police where the licensees' behaviour in the community suggests that they present an unacceptable risk to the public. In such cases the Board may recommend that the licensee is recalled to custody.

Estimated Future Workload

21. An indication of the number of cases which will be referred to the Board in the years 2002 to 2005 is illustrated in the following table which shows the number of interviews that members of the Board will require to carry out at prison establishments throughout Scotland over these years:

* Includes second and subsequent reviews

In addition the Board will be required to convene Life Prisoner Tribunals in each of the years covered by the Plan. The best estimate we have of the likely numbers to be referred in each of the three years is as follows:

The Board will also be required to convene Tribunals to consider the re-release on licence of extended sentence prisoners who are recalled to custody. An estimate of the likely number of such cases is as follows:

22. The workload of the Board will be significantly increased because of the need to convene Tribunals to deal with the cases of adult mandatory life prisoners and an expected increase in the number of other cases referred to the Board. Each Tribunal must be chaired by a member of the Board who holds, has held or is qualified to hold judicial office and in order that the Board may fulfil this statutory function additional members were appointed to the Board in September 2001. All members of the Board are expected to contribute towards every aspect of the work of the Board. The additional members are, therefore, expected to participate in decision making at the Board's casework meetings.

23. At present the Board's membership stands at 19. The Board does not consider it essential that all members meet together in order to reach decisions in relation to the suitability of individual prisoners for release on licence. In these circumstances, no less than 3 Board members and no more than 7 members attend each case work meeting. The Board meets on a total of 36 occasions each year to consider the cases of determinate sentence prisoners referred to it by the Scottish Ministers.

Training of Members

24. The members of the Board are aware of the need to provide comprehensive training for new members who join the Board. The Board has established a training committee comprising three experienced Board members who are responsible for ensuring that satisfactory induction training is available for all new members of the Board. An induction pack is available to new members and an experienced Board member acts as a mentor for the first 6 months of the new member's appointment.

Visits to Prison Establishments and Social Work Departments

25. Each year members visit a number of the prison establishments where parole eligible prisoners are held. These visits provide members of the Board with the opportunity to speak with prisoners and fully explain the early release procedures. The members also take the opportunity afforded by these visits to talk with prison staff of all disciplines and explain to them the Board's requirements with regard to matters such as the reports submitted in connection with the review of prisoners' cases for early release.

26. The Board also has referred to it each year the cases of children sentenced by the courts to detention under section 208 of the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995 and for this reason the Board has agreed to visit the secure schools/units where such children are detained.

27. The Board's programme of visits over the next 3 years is as follows:

* Secure school/ unit

28. The members of the Board also consider that a great deal of benefit is gained from meeting with community based social workers who are responsible for supervising licensees. Such meetings ensure that the Board is aware of any difficulties which may have arisen in the course of supervising licensees and that the members are kept up to date with regard to community based programmes which are designed to assist the successful reintegration of prisoners into the community and thereby reduce the risk of re-offending. A programme of visits over the years 2002 to 2005 has yet to be agreed with social work departments, but the proposed programme is:

General Purposes Meetings

29. The Parole Board holds 3 General Purposes Meetings each year. These meetings provide the members with the opportunity to discuss matters such as Board policy and procedures, proposed changes to the law relating to early release of offenders, consultation documents on which a Board response is requested, developments within the Scottish Prison Service, the Board's budget and the Board's performance in relation to the targets that it has set itself.

Annual Conference

30. The Board holds an Annual Conference which also provides members with the opportunity to gather together to discuss the business of the Board. The Conference also provides a forum for the members of the Board to meet with representatives of other organisations involved in the criminal justice system such as the Scottish Prison Service and agencies involved in the resettlement and aftercare of offenders. The benefits that accrue to the Board members as a result of holding the Annual Conference outweigh the small cost incurred and it is intended that a Conference be convened in each of the years covered by the Corporate Plan.

Observers at Board Meetings

31. The Board regularly invites visitors to observe and comment on its proceedings. Each year the Law Lords are invited to attend a meeting of the Board. The Board also invites staff of the Scottish Prison Service who are involved in the preparation of parole review reports and social workers who are required to supervise offenders in the community. The attendance of such individuals at meetings of the Board enables them to see the importance that the members of the Board place on the reports that they prepare.

Legal Adviser

32. As an independent non-departmental public body, the Parole Board for Scotland is required to appoint its own Legal Adviser. Following a tendering exercise carried out during 2000/01 the Board was pleased to appoint Anderson Strathern as its Legal Adviser with effect from April 2001. The agreed appointment period is 3 years.

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