Long-term prisoner release process: consultation analysis

Views on the general proposal that the point of release should be proportionate to sentence length

Question 2. Please share any views you have on the general proposal that the point of release on non-parole licence should be proportionate to sentence length (as opposed to a fixed point).

The majority of respondents who directly addressed this question in their answer agreed that the point of release should be proportionate to sentence length. The main reason for this was that a proportionate point of release was deemed to be fairer. One organisation gave the example that, prisoners serving a standard 4-year sentence would serve 3 years 6 months before being released on NPL (87.5% of their sentence) whereas prisoners sentenced to 10 years would require to serve 95% of their sentence.

A number of individual respondents with a family member/close friend affected by the proposal commented that “non-parole licence should be proportionate to the sentence length (e.g. half or two-thirds), rather than at a fixed point (e.g. final six months)”. These respondents also noted that:

“Currently, someone serving a 12-year sentence may only spend 6 months, or 4% of their sentence on licence, whereas someone serving a 4-year sentence would spend 13% of their sentence on licence in the community. This does not make sense for public protection or preventing reoffending, and instead seems solely to be focused on punishment, not rehabilitation.”

Many respondents stated that people serving longer sentences required a longer period in the community to reintegrate as illustrated by this organisation response:

“This make perfect sense and is coherent and logical. The more time a person spends away from the community then the more time they will need to try to reintegrate back to that community.”

A number of individual respondents with a family member/close friend affected by the proposal further commented:

“It is rational that someone serving a sentence of over 10 years requires a longer period supported on licence than someone serving a 4-year sentence. The only way to ensure each person has adequate supervision is by making the licence period proportionate to sentence length.”

Many respondents, however, whilst supportive in principle of a move to a proportionate release point raised a number of operational concerns. These are discussed in Question 1 below. Given these concerns, particularly around risk assessments and victim and community safety, some of which are outwith the scope of the current proposals, it was not always clear the degree to which respondents supported the proposal as framed.

Of those respondents who opposed a proportionate release point, most were opposed to any form of early release or changes to the existing release point. Others cited operational concerns as a reason for not being supportive of a change at this time. These are also discussed in Question 1 below.