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Parole Board Annual Report
22/12/2009
The Parole Board for Scotland Annual Report 2008-09 was published today.
It shows, among other things, that out of 627 determinate sentence prisoners whose cases were referred to the Board, 227 were recommended for release on parole.
The number of life sentence prisoners released on licence in circumstances where a Tribunal of the Board was satisfied that it was no longer necessary for the protection of the public that the prisoner should be confined was 52.
The number of prisoners who were granted parole and then subsequently referred back to the Board for consideration for recall to custody was very small - 12 during the year whereas the number of prisoners who were released at the two-thirds point of their sentence as required by law and then subsequently recalled was substantially higher at 150 for the year.
The number of determinate sentence prisoners who opted out of consideration by the Board was 69.
Chairman of the Board Sandy Cameron CBE said:
"Public safety is the ParoIe Board's number one consideration. I believe that the information in this year's report shows that, in the main, our decisions to grant parole are sound.
"In all cases the Board sets licence conditions which are individually designed to assist with the management of the risk factors. Compliance with these conditions is not optional - it is an obligation on the offender in return for the privilege of being allowed to serve part of their sentence in the community.
"So while committing a further offence is very likely to result in the individual being recalled to prison, a breach of any condition can result in recall. In granting parole or in setting licence conditions the Board hopes that each individual offender will be able to grasp the opportunity with the support and guidance of their supervising officers to resettle successfully into the community and lead their life without further offending."
The Parole Board takes decisions on the release of life sentence prisoners and on the timing of the release on parole of determinate sentence prisoners serving sentences of four years or more.
Prisoners sentenced to four years' imprisonment or more on or after October 1, 1993 are automatically released from custody when they have served two-thirds of the sentence.