Prisoners: Revised Temporary Release Scheme: Community Visits

Information about the publication of Ministerial Decisions

A formal published “Ministerial Decision” is required as a record of the decision of a Minister (or an Assistant Minister where they have delegated authority) as they exercise their responsibilities and powers.

Ministers are elected by the States Assembly and have legal responsibilities and powers as “corporation sole” under the States of Jersey Law 2005 by virtue of their office and in their areas of responsibility, including entering into agreements, and under any legislation conferring on them powers.

An accurate record of “Ministerial Decisions” is vital to effective governance, including:

demonstrating that good governance, and clear lines of accountability and authority, are in place around decisions-making – including the reasons and basis on which a decision is made, and the action required to implement a decision
providing a record of decisions and actions that will be available for examination by States Members, and Panels and Committees of the States Assembly; the public, organisations, and the media; and as a historical record and point of reference for the conduct of public affairs

Ministers are individually accountable to the States Assembly, including for the actions of the departments and agencies which discharge their responsibilities.

The Freedom of Information Law (Jersey) Law 2011 is used as a guide when determining what information is be published. While there is a presumption toward publication to support of transparency and accountability, detailed information may not be published if, for example, it would constitute a breach of data protection, or disclosure would prejudice commercial interest.

A decision made 6 January 2014:

Decision Reference: MD-HA-2014-0004
Decision Summary Title :	Changes to the temporary release scheme		Date of Decision Summary:	23 December 2013
Decision Summary Author:	Executive Officer Home Affairs		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 :	Changes to the temporary release scheme		Date of Written Report:	16 December 2013
Written Report Author:	Prison Governor		Written Report : Public or Exempt? (State clauses from Code of Practice booklet)	Public
Subject: Changes to the temporary release scheme relating to community visits.
Decision(s): The Minister decided to introduce a revised temporary release scheme in relation to the period at which prisoners will become eligible to qualify for community visits. The qualifying period will reduce from 18 months before end of sentence to 12 months. However, transitional arrangements will be introduced for those serving sentences of 54 months or more, with liberation dates in 2015, as they would be adversely affected by the change and will, consequently, retain their current qualifying dates for access to Community Visits. In addition, during the last 12 months of sentence, once a prisoner has been granted home leave and work experience, prisoners will be granted two periods of home leave per month instead of one and three community visits per month instead of one.
Reason(s) for Decision: To reduce the risk of illicit items being trafficked into the prison and to reflect best practice in the UK and other jurisdictions which operate a system of parole.
Resource Implications: None.
Action required: The Prison Governor to notify prisoners of the change in policy in relation to temporary release.
Signature:		Position: Minister for Home Affairs
Date Signed:		Date of Decision (If different from Date Signed):

Prisoners: Revised Temporary Release Scheme: Community Visits

Changes to the Temporary Release Scheme

Current Practice

At present, depending on the length of sentence, prisoners can qualify for community visits (CVs) 18 months before the end of sentence but only qualify for home leave or work experience during the last year.

The Probation Service conduct a check on home circumstances and confirm the nominated address is suitable for home visits but no such checks are carried out for CVs. While we insist that a prisoner is collected for a CV and returned to prison by a named person that is acceptable to the Prison Service, we have very limited control over their activities once out in the community.

Prisoners on CVs are located in the mainstream residential units and consequently, there is a significant risk of illicit items being trafficked back into the establishment.

Proposed Change

To reduce the level of risk associated with CVs, I would like to change where they are positioned in scheme, such that a prisoner will only be granted CVs when they are on community work and home leave. At present, this is during the last year of sentence and all male prisoners would be located in the Out-Workers Unit.

The risk with female prisoners would remain but they are very low volume and they are also isolated from the male prisoners.

Other Proposed Changes

In order that the Temporary Release Scheme may better reflect practice in the UK (and other jurisdictions where parole is an option) I propose a more liberal approach to permitting access to the community and preparing a prisoner for release.

During the last 12 months of sentence (at the stage defined on the attached table) once granted home leave and work experience, the prisoner should be granted two periods of home leave per month instead of one, and three community visits per month instead of one. In effect, each week-end a prisoner could either be on home leave or on a community visit.

On considering the above, we must take account of the fact that prisoners in the UK (other than indeterminate sentences) are released at half sentence but in Jersey they remain in custody for two thirds.

Transitional arrangements for the implementation of the changes

Adverse Impact

From a prisoner’s perspective, the only adverse change to the scheme relates to the term that can be spent on Community Visits. At present this is determined by a sliding scale but prisoners sentenced to 54 months or longer can be considered for community visits during the last 18 months of the sentence. The revised scheme reduces this to the last 12 months of sentence.

While this is compensated by greater access to Home Leave and Community Visits, the Minister noted that there may be a number of prisoners approaching the 18 month stage early in 2014, who would have a high level of expectation that they were soon to qualify for Community Visits and consideration should be given to putting transitional arrangements in place.

Those Affected by the Change

Any prisoner serving a sentence of 54 months or more, with a liberation date after 01/01/2015 could be affected by the change. However, the more significant issue is in regard to reasonable notice. Those with liberation dates after 31st December 2015 have more than two years left to serve and would not qualify for consideration under the current scheme before June 2014. I suggest they will receive more than adequate notice of the change.

Consequently, we are only looking at those serving 54 months and over, with liberation dates in 2015. Once the UK residents and those recommended for deportation are removed, only 12 prisoners are affected. I propose that we protect the status of this group by allowing them to retain their current date of qualification for Community Visits.

Recommendation

It is recommended that the revised criteria for Temporary Release be implemented from 1 January 2014, but that those prisoners who are serving over 54 months with liberation dates in 2015, retain their current qualifying date for access to Community Visits.

W Millar

Governor

TEMPORARY RELEASE ELIGIBILITY DATES

Sentence	Normal Time to Serve (In months)	Home Leave/Work Placement/Community Visits	Home Detention Curfew
Sentence		Time served to qualify	Time served to qualify
12 Months	8	N/A	^N/A
13 Months	9	6	^N/A
14 Months	9	6	^N/A
15 Months	10	7	^N/A
16 Months	11	7	10
17 Months	11	8	10
18 Months	12	8	10
19 Months	13	8	10
20 Months	13	9	10
21 Months	14	9	11
22 Months	15	10	12
23 Months	15	10	12
24 Months	16	11	Last 4 months of sentence
25 Months	17	11	“
26 Months	17	12	“
27 Months	18	12	“
28 Months	19	12	“
29 Months	19	13	“
30 Months	20	13	“
31 Months	21	14	“
32 Months	21	14	“
33 Months	22	15	“
34 Months	23	15	“
35 Months	23	16	“
36 Months	24	16	“
37 Months	25	16	“
38 Months	25	17	“
39 Months	26	17	“
40 Months	27	18	“
41 Months	27	18	“
42 Months	28	19	“
43 Months	29	19	“
44 Months	29	20	“
45 Months	30	20	“
46 Months	31	20	“
47 Months	31	21	“
48 Months	32	21	“

* Sentences over 48 months qualify for Home Leave and work experience during the last 12 months of time to serve.