Prisoners Temporary Release Scheme: Amendment

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A decision made on 22 October 2009 to approve the Prisoners Temporary Release Scheme (Amended October 2009) which will come into effect from 1 January 2010.

Decision Reference: MD-HA-2009-0100
Decision Summary Title :	Amended Temporary Release Scheme		Date of Decision Summary:	9 October 09
Decision Summary Author:	Prison Governor		Decision Summary: Public or Exempt? (State clauses from Code of Practice booklet)	Public
Type of Report: Oral or Written?	Written		Person Giving Oral Report:	N/A
Written Report Title :	Prisoners Temporary Release Scheme (Amended Oct 2009)		Date of Written Report:	9 October 09
Written Report Author:	Prison Governor		Written Report : Public or Exempt? (State clauses from Code of Practice booklet)	Public
Subject: The Prisoners Temporary Release Scheme has been amended to replace electronic tagging with release on Home Curfew while under licence.
Decision(s): The Minister approved the Prisoners Temporary Release Scheme (Amended Oct 2009) to come into effect from 1st January 2010.
Reason(s) for Decision: The scheme required amendment to remove reference to the electronic tagging scheme and replace this with Home Curfew.
Resource Implications: Removes the cost of the tagging scheme.
Action required: The Prison Governor to inform prisoners and other interested parties (Probation and Police) of changes to the Temporary Release Scheme.
Signature:		Position: Minister for Home Affairs
Date Signed:		Date of Decision (If different from Date Signed):

Prisoners Temporary Release Scheme: Amendment

H M Prison La Moye

Prisoners

Temporary Release Scheme

September 2009

1. Statement of Policy

Temporary Release is a feature of the Prison (Jersey) Rules, 2007, which enables the Minister for Home Affairs to temporarily release a prisoner serving a sentence of imprisonment, for such a time or times and subject to such conditions as the Minister may determine, either –

for the purpose of a prisoner engaging in employment or receiving instruction or training; or

in such other circumstances as may be approved by the Minister.

2. Temporary Release at HM Prison, La Moye is used for the following purposes:

(a) Community Visits – To permit a prisoner to spend up to 4 hours in the community with a friend or relative, as approved by the prison Governor. The prisoner must be collected and returned to the prison by the approved person and will remain in their company for the duration of the visit.

(b) Home Leave – To help restore self-confidence by placing trust in a prisoner outside the prison environment and to help the prisoner re-adjust to life outside prison. This will be for a maximum of 2 days (one overnight) per month.

(c). Outside Work – To allow a prisoner to be involved in community work, progressing to paid work with an employer that may retain them beyond their date of release. This will enable prisoners to give financial support to their families prior to release and better equip them to make a constructive contribution to the community following release.

(d) Home Curfew – To allow the prisoner to engage in paid employment and re-establish a home and relationships with family and/or friends, while on home curfew under licence for a period prior to the end of sentence.

3. Home Leave may be granted for the following:

To assist in preparation for release by allowing a prisoner to attend education or training courses, job interviews, arrange accommodation, attend appropriate community activities, attend offending behaviour courses or address other sentence planning related issues.

To maintain and/or strengthen close family relationships.

4. Principles

The Temporary Release Scheme provides the opportunities for prisoners to be successfully tested back in the community, prior to the end of sentence. A balance between the resettlement needs of eligible prisoners and the need to protect public safety must be maintained. In order to do this the following principles should apply: -

The risk that a prisoner may present to the community must be assessed as low. Any doubts in relation to public safety should result in Temporary Release being denied.

The risks of further offending should be assessed and identified during the risk assessment process. Conduct during imprisonment will be taken into account during the assessment process.

The risk of a prisoner failing to comply with any conditions of the Temporary Release licence should be assessed and any doubts about a prisoner’s ability to comply with the licence conditions should result in a refusal to allow Temporary Release. Breach in any licence condition during a previous sentence or when on bail will also be taken into account during the assessment process.

The risk of absconding during the Temporary Release should be assessed and any concerns about it should result in a refusal to allow Temporary Release.

Any address given for home leave must be referred to the Probation Service for assessment to ensure that the accommodation is suitable and checks should be made with the named visitee to ensure that he/she is agreeable to the arrangements. Accommodation classed as ‘unsuitable’ by Probation will result in a refusal to allow Temporary Release.

Where it is known that there are children at the address, the Probation Officer must ensure that the prisoner doesn’t present a threat to the children. They may choose to seek comments from the Children’s Services on the Temporary Release application.

5. Eligibility Criteria

Only sentenced prisoners are eligible.

Prisoners must be clear of discipline reports during the preceding three months.

Prisoners must be on the drug-testing programme and the last 3 consecutive drug test results must have been negative. A mandatory urine test without prior notice may be requested by the prison at any time and prisoners must consent to this as part of the application process for temporary release.

Prisoners must be on the enhanced level of the Incentives and Earned Privileges (IEP) Scheme.

Prisoners must have been in custody for the qualifying period (See Annex A).

Prisoners should normally be tested on community visits before being granted community work or home leave.

No offence will automatically preclude an offender from consideration for Temporary Release. However, those convicted of violent or sex offences will only be referred to the Panel for consideration if any risk they present is assessed as manageable via the Multi-Agency Risk Assessment and Management Meeting (MARAMM) process.

A prisoner who breaches any condition of the licence during Temporary Release will be removed from the Release on Temporary Licence Scheme for a minimum period of 3 months.

Overnight Temporary Release should not ordinarily be approved for a Friday night.

Prisoners will not be eligible for release on Home Curfew if they are not in paid employment.

6. The Temporary Release Process

The following process must be invoked prior to any consideration for home leave or outside work.

There is no automatic entitlement; eligible prisoners must apply for consideration.

The Wing Senior Officer must check that the prisoner meets the eligibility criteria.

Reports are requested from the States and Honorary Police, Probation and Aftercare Service, Customs and Immigration, The Children’s Services (if appropriate), the prisoner’s Personal Officer, the Prison Psychologist, Prison Healthcare, Prison Drugs & Alcohol Team, Sentence Management, the wing Unit Manager and the Security Department.

Once all the reports have been received a dossier will be compiled which will be submitted to the ROTL (Release on Temporary Licence) Panel for consideration.

The Panel will consist of the Prisoner Governor, the Seconded Probation Officer, the Prison Psychologist, an Independent member appointed by the Minister for Home Affairs and other prison personnel as identified by the Governor. The Panel will consider applications at least monthly.

Prisoners permitted to attend work outside the prison will be allocated community work in the first instance and normally for a minimum period of two months before being considered for paid employment.

For home leave applications, checks should be carried out by the Probation Service with the named visitee and on the accommodation to ensure that the visit is appropriate. Prisoners will normally have to successfully complete at least two one-day home leave periods before being granted overnight home leave.

All approvals for Temporary Release made by Panel should be authorised by the Governor in accordance with the Minister’s delegated authority.

Details of the use of Temporary Release and any failures to comply with the conditions of the licence should be reported to the Minister at the monthly meetings.

Records of all decisions made by the Panel will be maintained on a database to help inform future decisions where appropriate.

All prisoners returning from Temporary Release will be subject to drug testing and special searches.

Prisoners on overnight Temporary Release will be required to adhere to a 9 p.m. curfew, which may be subject to spot checks to confirm they are at the address shown on the licence. This also applies to those released on Home Curfew.

7. Scope and Limitations of Temporary Release

Temporary Release will only apply to sentenced prisoners.

The assessment panel will only consider applications for Temporary Release to addresses in Jersey.

Outside work will only be approved for placements in Jersey and prisoners will not be permitted to work ‘off shore’.

Any application for Temporary Release to travel outside the Bailiwick of Jersey will be referred to the Minister for Home Affairs for consideration, other than compassionate release, which can be considered by the Governor. The assessment panel will submit a recommendation to the Minister in relation to any such application.

Where, in exceptional circumstances, approval is given for Temporary Release to an address outside of the Bailiwick of Jersey, the Police and Probation Service in that jurisdiction will be informed.

Temporary Release for the purpose of engaging in Community Work will be considered by the assessment panel subject to the same risk assessment procedures as defined in the Temporary Release Process.

Proposals for extended periods of Temporary Release over the Christmas or Easter periods will be referred separately to the Minister for approval.

TEMPORARY RELEASE ELIGIBILITY DATES

Sentence	Normal Time to Serve * (In months)	Community Visit Time served to qualify	Home Leave/Work Placement Time served to qualify	Community Curfew Time served to qualify
12 Months	8	6	^N/A	^N/A
18 Months	12	6	8	10
24 Months	16	8	10	12
30 Months	20	10	12	16
36 Months	24	12	16	20
42 Months	28	14	20	24
48 Months	32	16	22	28
54 Months	36	18	24	32
60 Months	40	22	28	36
66 Months	44	26	32	40
72 Months	48	30	36	44
78 Months	52	34	40	48
84 Months	56	38	44	52
90 Months	60	42	48	56
96 Months	64	46	52	60
102 Months	68	50	56	64
108 Months	72	54	60	68
114 Months	76	58	64	72
120 Months	80	62	68	76

* This assumes no loss of normal remission of the sentence.

^ Please note sentences of 12 months only qualify for Community Visits, less than 12 months don’t access the Temporary Leave Scheme.