Probation Circular CRIMINAL JUSTICE ACT 2003 EARLY RELEASE AND RECALL

Transcription

1 CRIMINAL JUSTICE ACT 2003 EARLY RELEASE AND RECALL PURPOSE To introduce the new arrangements for the release on licence and recall of determinate sentence prisoners under the provisions of the 2003 Act; new provisions concerning the addition of non-standard licence conditions; and new arrangements for considering applications to travel abroad. ACTION Chief Officers should ensure that relevant staff are familiar with the new arrangements set out in this circular; and that copies of the circular and PSO 6000 are available to staff. SUMMARY The provisions of the Criminal Justice Act 2003 relating to determinate sentence prisoners sentenced to 12 months or longer will be implemented on 4 April This circular sets out: the different categories of relevant prisoners; information about the Act s new provisions; new procedures relating to the addition of licence conditions to licences; new procedures for handling the release and recall of prisoners; and new provisions concerning the supervision of offenders on licence. RELEVANT PREVIOUS PROBATION CIRCULARS This circular replaces PC 42/2003. PCs 52/1997; 13/2003; 28/2004; 45B/2004 are relevant previous circulars. CONTACT FOR ENQUIRIES Early release provisions, policy and practice: Peter Charlesworth Licence conditions policy: Simon Greenwood or James Hough Recall policy and practice: Kerry Adams Recall casework: Alistair Albosh Extended sentence policy and casework: Kristyn Miller or Nuzhat Ravzi National Probation Directorate Policy: Jo Thompson jo.thompson8@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk or, Jason Oliver Jason.oliver4@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk Probation Circular REFERENCE NO: 16/2005 ISSUE DATE: 8 March 2005 IMPLEMENTATION DATE: 4 April 2005 EXPIRY DATE: April 2010 or until replaced TO: Chairs of Probation Boards Chief Officers of Probation Secretaries of Probation Boards CC: Board Treasurers Regional Managers AUTHORISED BY: Liz Hill Head of Public Protection and Courts Unit ATTACHED: Annex A: Guidance on completing a report to the ERRS on breach notification, request for recall and review by the Parole Board Annex B: Report Template Annex C: Licence Conditions Annex D: Directions to PB Annex E: Recall Liaison Officers National Probation Directorate Horseferry House, Dean Ryle Street, London, SW1P 2AW General Enquiries: Fax: Enforcement, rehabilitation and public protection

2 CRIMINAL JUSTICE ACT 2003: EARLY RELEASE, LICENCE AND RECALL ARRANGEMENTS PURPOSE 1. To inform you about the revised arrangements for the early release of determinate sentence prisoners, including the inclusion of additional licence conditions, general advice on the use of licence conditions, the new arrangements for handling recall requests, the new procedures for considering the prisoner s representations against recall (including an entitlement to an oral hearing) and for determining a re-release date for recalled prisoners and the new arrangements for considering applications from offenders on licence to travel abroad. ACTION 2. Chief Officers should bring this Circular to the attention of those staff who have responsibility for the supervision of determinate sentence prisoners; Chief Officers should also ensure that relevant staff have access to the Prison Service Order 6000 (Parole and Recall Manual). The document is not subject to copyright and Chief Officers should make as many additional copies of the documents as they seem appropriate. If either of these documents is not readily available they should contact the Early Release and Recall Section. SUMMARY 3. The Criminal Justice Act 2003 introduces a new sentencing framework for determinate sentence prisoners. All determinate sentence prisoners serving a sentence of 12 months (a Standard Determinate Sentence) or more are eligible for automatic release at the halfway point of their sentence and will be subject to probation supervision for the entire second half of their sentence. Standard Determinate Sentence prisoners are eligible to apply for the home detention curfew scheme, other than those who are statutorily excluded. 4. The new Act requires us to lay before Parliament a Statutory Instrument, which sets out licence condition requirements. This Statutory Instrument will list the standard conditions as well as a definitive list of requirements, from which additional conditions must be derived. Chief Officers are asked to note that only conditions falling within one of the requirements specified in the Statutory Instrument may lawfully be included in a licence. Sentencing judges will be able to recommend the inclusion of specific licence condition requirements and the Secretary of State is required to have regard to such recommendations. The administrative process for including additional licence conditions has been streamlined and simplified. 5. Under the new recall provisions, the Secretary of State is no longer required to consult with the Parole Board when deciding whether to revoke a prisoner s licence. The decision whether to recall a prisoner will be made by the Early Release and Recall Section on behalf of the Secretary of State. The Parole Board will review all recall decisions once the prisoner has returned to custody. The Parole Board will also consider whether to set a re-release date for the prisoner or a date for a further review of detention. This decision will be influenced by a risk management plan, which must be submitted by the Probation Service whenever an offender is recalled. 6. The House of Lords has ruled that the Parole Board s failure to offer two determinate sentence prisoners, Smith and West, an oral hearing to consider their representations was a breach of common law procedural fairness. Their Lordships also set down the circumstances in which an oral hearing might be appropriate. The new arrangements in response to this judgment are still being finalised, but the initial intention is that all recalled prisoners will have their cases reviewed by the Parole Board on the papers and prisoner who make representations and who are not given a re-release date will be offered an oral hearing. 7. The Early Release and Recall Section has been reorganised into regional teams. Each probation area has a named contact for advice etc in respect of recalls. PC16/2005 Criminal Justice Act 2003 Early Release and Recall 2

3 8. In future, all decisions in response to a request by an offender on licence to travel abroad will be taken by the relevant Probation Area. Where a Probation Area is minded to approve a request, it will no longer be required to seek the authority of the Parole Board. The criteria for approving such requests remains unchanged. INTRODUCTION 9. The purpose of this Circular is to inform you about: (i) (ii) (iii) (iv) (v) (vi) (vii) (viii) (ix) (x) (xi) (xii) The introduction of the new automatic release provisions contained within the Criminal Justice Act 2003, which are applicable to those Standard Determinate Sentence prisoners serving a sentence of 12 months and over and who have been convicted of an offence committed on or after 4 April The continuation of parole arrangements for all existing prisoners serving a sentence of 4 years and over; The new provisions for extended sentence prisoners as set out in the Criminal Justice Act 2003 and which will again apply only to prisoners convicted of an offence committed on or after 4 April The new streamlined arrangements for considering the inclusion of additional licence conditions; Arrangements for considering licence conditions specifically recommended by the sentencing judge; The new arrangements for handling requests for recall for determinate sentence prisoners; The new arrangements for the review by the Parole Board of both Secretary of State recall decisions and prisoners representations against recall The new arrangements for determining the re-release of recalled determinate sentence prisoners; The new arrangements for offering recalled prisoners a Parole Board oral hearing to review their representations, following the Smith and West judgment. The new arrangements for approving requests to travel abroad. Confirmation of the existing arrangements for inter-agency liaison with regard to the recall of determinate sentence prisoners; The re-organisation of ERRS recall casework teams into regional teams. ACTION 10. This Circular replaces PC42/2003. It has been written by the Early Release and Recall Section of the Home Office Sentencing Policy and Penalties Unit, in close consultation with all interested parties, including the Parole Board, the Lifer Review and Recall Section and the National Probation Directorate. Chief Officers are asked to bring this circular to the attention of staff with responsibility for the supervision of determinate sentence prisoners. 11. Chief Officers should also ensure that relevant staff have access to the Prison Service Order 6000 (Parole Release and Recall Manual). The document is not subject to copyright and Chief Officers should make as many additional copies as they deem appropriate. If the document is not readily available you should contact the Early Release and Recall Section. The contact is Richard Modelly (tel: ). SENTENCING FRAMEWORK FOR DETERMINATE SENTENCE PRISONERS Standard Determinate Sentence 12. The new sentencing provisions contained within the Criminal Justice Act 2003, will apply to those prisoners who commit their earliest index offence on or after 4 th April Under the provisions for determinate sentences of 12 months and over (the Standard Determinate Sentence), the prisoner is: (i) Entitled to be released, automatically, at the halfway point of their sentence; PC16/2005 Criminal Justice Act 2003 Early Release and Recall 3

4 (ii) Eligible to be considered for release on the home detention curfew scheme up to 4½ months prior to their automatic release date (unless statutorily exempt). The policy on the application of the home detention curfew scheme for prisoners serving sentences of 4 years and over is currently under consideration; and (iii) Required to be on licence and probation supervision for the whole of the second half of their sentence. The concept of at risk disappears and licence expiry date will be the same as sentence expiry date. 14. Please note that these provisions are not being applied retrospectively and existing prisoners, together with those prisoners who commit offences prior to 4 April 2005, but who are sentenced after that date, will continue to have their sentence applied under existing provisions. 15. Probation Officers will not be required to prepare a parole assessment report (PAR) for Standard Determinate Sentence prisoners. However, they should continue to prepare PARs for existing DCR prisoners, in accordance with the guidance set out in Probation Circular 34/2004. Extended sentences 16. Any offender convicted of a sexual or violent offence for which the maximum penalty is under ten years can still be given an extended sentence. The custodial period should not exceed the maximum term permitted for the offence and the extension period should not exceed 5 years in the case of a violent offence, or 8 years in the case of a sexual offence. It will only be applied in cases where the sentencing court believes the offender presents a significant risk of serious harm through the commission of a further sexual or violent offence. Under the new provisions, no extended sentence prisoner can be released automatically before the end of the custodial term. They will be eligible to apply for discretionary release at the halfway point of the custodial term and annually thereafter. The Parole Board will be responsible for considering release and the decision will be determined by risk. The test the Board must apply is that it is satisfied that it is no longer necessary for the protection of the public that the offender in question should be confined. 17. The Probation Service will be required to prepare a PAR in line with the guidance set out in Probation Circular 34/ 2004 and the Prison Service Order Public Protection sentences 18. If a prisoner is convicted of a serious sexual or violent offence where the maximum penalty is over ten years, they may be sentenced to an indeterminate sentence of public protection. Guidance on this sentence will be issued in a further Probation Circular. Determinate sentences of less than 12 months 19. The Criminal Justice Act 2003 also makes new provisions for prisoners serving a sentence of less than 12 months (Custody Plus). However, there are no immediate plans to introduce these new provisions. Therefore, prisoners serving a sentence of less than 12 months will continue to be released automatically and unconditionally at the halfway point of sentence and will be at risk for the remainder of the sentence. Those serving a sentence of three months and over will also continue to be eligible to be considered for release on to the home detention curfew scheme. Further guidance will be issued once arrangements have been made to implement the new provisions for this category of prisoners. Intermittent custodial sentences 20. Provisions for a new intermittent custodial sentence are currently being piloted. Guidance on these sentences will be issued in due course. PC16/2005 Criminal Justice Act 2003 Early Release and Recall 4

5 Young Offenders 21. The new sentencing provisions draw no distinction between young and adult offenders. In practice this means that young offenders given a Standard Determinate sentence will be subject to supervision for the whole of the second half of their sentence. Prior to the introduction of Custody Plus, those young offenders sentenced to 12 months or less will continue to be released on a 3 month statutory notice of supervision and can only be breached through the courts. GUIDANCE ON THE USE OF LICENCE CONDITIONS 22. Licence condition requirements will be prescribed in a Statutory Instrument, whether they are standard or additional conditions. The Statutory Instrument will set out the precise wording of the standard conditions but in respect of additional conditions, it will provide a broad description of the requirement. An additional condition which does not fall within the list of requirements set out in the Statutory Instrument must not be applied to a licence and cannot be enforced. A list of the requirements is at Appendix B. 23. To help avoid any confusion the sections below list the standard conditions and Appendix B provides the definitive menu of additional conditions. Only those additional conditions listed in this menu may be included in a licence. If there is any doubt about whether a condition from the menu is appropriate, ERRS should be contacted. Existing prisoners and prisoners sentenced after, but for an offence committed prior to 4 April With existing prisoners and prisoners sentenced after, but for an offence committed prior to 4 April 2005, the current arrangements will apply, whereby all prisoners serving a sentence of 4 years and over must have their additional licence conditions approved by the Parole Board if they are to have legal force. The request for additional conditions, with supporting reasons, should be made either within a PAR, or in a separate report if the prisoner is going to be released on their Non Parole Date. However, only those conditions listed in the menu in Appendix B may be applied for. Standard conditions (as set out below) continue to apply. 25. In the case of existing prisoners or prisoners sentenced under existing provisions to a custodial sentence of less than 4 years, all additional conditions must be approved by the Prison Governor. Again, the only conditions to be used are those set out below and again in the menu at Appendix B. The Early Release and Recall Section no longer need to be consulted on the inclusion of additional conditions, but caseworkers will continue to provide advice when required. Standard conditions (as set out below) continue to apply. STANDARD CONDITIONS 26. Under the new sentencing provisions, prisoners serving a standard determinate sentence will be on licence and subject to supervision, throughout the whole of the second half of their sentence. Existing prisoners and those sentenced on or after 4 April 2005, but under existing sentencing provisions continue to be on licence until the three quarter point of their sentence. All such prisoners are subject to the six standard licence conditions set out below: 1. To be well behaved, not to commit any offence and not to do anything which could undermine the purpose of your supervision, which is to protect the public, prevent you from re-offending and help you to re-settle successfully into the community. 2. To keep in touch with your supervising officer in accordance with any instructions that you may be given; 3. If required, to receive visits from your supervising officer at your home/place of residence (e.g. approved premises); PC16/2005 Criminal Justice Act 2003 Early Release and Recall 5

6 4. Permanently to reside at an address approved by your supervising officer and notify him or her in advance of any proposed change of address or any proposed stay (even for one night) away from that approved address; 5. Undertake only such work (including voluntary work) approved by your supervising officer and notify him or her in advance of any proposed change; 6. Not to travel outside the United Kingdom without prior permission of your supervising officer (which will be given in exceptional circumstances only) or for the purpose of complying with immigration deportation/removal; ADDITIONAL CONDITIONS 27. As stated above, in addition to the standard conditions, it is also possible for probation officers to recommend additional licence conditions. 28. An additional licence condition can only be inserted if it is lawful. To be lawful the condition has to be both necessary and proportionate. Necessary means that no other means of managing a particular risk is available or appropriate; and proportionate means that the restriction on the offender s liberty is the minimum required to manage the risk. It should be noted that the standard licence conditions already contain sufficient authority to manage most risks in the community. 29. In considering the need for additional licence conditions, supervising officers must focus upon managing the risk presented by the offender whilst in the community, together with the requirement to facilitate their long term rehabilitation. Whilst planning for the prisoner s release, the supervising probation area should contact the local police force for information in accordance with the Joint Protocol on Supervision, Revocation and Recall for Prisoners Released on Licence PC03/ All additional licence conditions must be taken from the menu of specified licence conditions (see Appendix B). The conditions listed on the menu are all derived from the list of requirements specified in the Statutory Instrument on licence conditions and the wording has been cleared with Home Office lawyers. There may be cases, exceptionally, where probation officers conclude that a specific risk can only safely be managed by including a bespoke condition not included on the menu. In these circumstances, they must seek approval from the Early Release and Recall Section before submitting the final list of conditions to the Governor. As well as being both proportionate and necessary, the Early Release and Recall Section will need to be satisfied that it falls within one or more of the requirements listed in the Statutory Instrument and is not already covered by the standard conditions. Governors will only approve bespoke conditions if they have been cleared with the Early Release and Recall Section. Any requests in relation to Intensive Supervision and Surveillance Programme (ISSP) being used as a condition of licence for Young Offenders, should be referred to the Youth Justice Board. 31. Existing prisoners and those sentenced on or after 4 April 2005 but for an offence committed before that date who are serving a sentence of 4 years and over must have additional licence conditions approved by the Parole Board. In all other cases, additional licence conditions must be approved by the Secretary of State if they are to be lawful. In order to meet this requirement, probation staff may recommend licence conditions, but these recommendations have to be approved by the Prison Governor. 32. Prison Governors must satisfy themselves that the conditions requested are lawful. Only where they are minded to reject such a request is a Governor required to consult with the Early Release and Recall Section, who will take the final decision. Governors have been advised that they must not insert a condition which has not been recommended by the Probation Service. Instead, if they believe that the recommendations are insufficient to manage risk in the community, they have been advised to approach the Probation Service to highlight their concerns and consider whether additional safeguards can be found. In the rare situation where an agreement cannot be reached, the governor must not impose conditions, but refer the matter to the Early Release and Recall Section to take the final decision. PC16/2005 Criminal Justice Act 2003 Early Release and Recall 6

7 DRUG TESTING AS A CONDITION OF LICENCE 33. Drug testing as a condition of licence has previously been available to probation officers, to apply to offenders being supervised within the pilot areas. This is now being scaled down. Ministers have agreed that the focus should be for drug testing on licence to be used for those offenders on whom it is most likely to have an impact. Plans are being put in place therefore to extend it to adult Prolific and other Priority Offenders (PPO) who are subject to post custodial licences for offences committed on or after 4 th April 2005 and who were convicted of a trigger offence under the Criminal Justice and Court Services Act Prison Governors will be advised that drug testing should only be considered for offenders, from 1 April 2005, who are identified as a PPO. PAROLE BOARD INVOLVEMENT 34. In the case of prisoners given a standard determinate sentence under the provisions of the Criminal Justice Act 2003, there is no requirement to consult the Parole Board on the inclusion of additional licence conditions at the point of release. However, where a prisoner is recalled and the Board is considering whether he/she can be safely be re-released, it will be invited to consider and recommend whether to include additional licence conditions in order safely to manage the risk. There is no statutory requirement to include any such recommendations and they will only be included following consultation with the Probation Service. It is recommended that supervising officers always consider whether further additional conditions are necessary when preparing a recall risk management report. 35. In the case of extended sentence prisoners, sentenced under the new provisions, there is a requirement to consult with the Parole Board before inserting or varying licence conditions. Recommendations for additional licence conditions should be made in either the PAR or recall risk management report. PROCESS FOR REQUESTING LICENCE CONDITIONS FOR PRISONERS SERVING A STANDARD DETERMINATE SENTENCE UNDER THE CJA 2003 PROVISIONS OR A SENTENCE OF LESS THAN 4 YEARS UNDER THE CJA 1991 PROVISIONS 36. Any licence condition that has not been approved either by the Governor or by the Early Release and Recall Section has no legal force. It is essential therefore that the processes for requesting licence conditions are followed. All requests for additional licence conditions should be sent to the Prison Governor at least 14 days before the prisoner is due to be released. The application should include brief reasons for the request. In cases where it is anticipated that further additional conditions will be required (for example, a supervising officer is awaiting information on an approved premises placement) the prison should be alerted. In exceptional cases where a bespoke condition is being requested which is not on the specified list, the request should be submitted to the Pre Release Team in the Early Release and Recall Section for approval before it is submitted to the governor. Requests for guidance on the use of licence conditions should be directed to the Early Release and Recall Section. Where a supervising officer wishes to remove an additional licence condition, an application should be made to the governor of the releasing prison. If however, the condition was recommended by the sentencing judge, the supervising officer must consult with the Early Release and Recall Section before approaching the governor. JUDICIAL RECOMMENDATIONS 37. The Criminal Justice Act 2003 provides for sentencing judges to recommend the inclusion of specific licence conditions when sentencing a determinate sentence prisoner (including those sentenced to an extended sentence) under the new sentencing provisions. The Secretary of State is required to give due regard to any such recommendation. The policy is that there is a presumption that wherever possible, all such PC16/2005 Criminal Justice Act 2003 Early Release and Recall 7

8 recommendations will be included when releasing a prisoner on licence However, it is accepted that in some cases, the circumstances of the offender may have changed to such an extent that the concerns upon which the judicial recommendation was based are no longer relevant or that the Probation Service has concluded that the condition would be detrimental to managing the offender s risk. In such cases the Probation Service must consult with the Early Release and Recall Section to seek authority to omit the judicial recommendation, while explaining the reasons behind its request. If the Early Release and Recall Section agree to the request to omit the judicial recommendation, it will write to the sentencing judge to advise him/her of the decision and will provide reasons. 38. Where a judicial recommendation for a licence condition relating to a victim is not to be included in a licence, the Probation Area victim contact team should be involved in discussions. The reasons for not accepting the recommendation should be explained to the victim. 39. The Governor must ensure that any court-recommended licence conditions are sent to the relevant probation area shortly after the prisoner has been received after sentencing into custody. Chief Officers must ensure that any court-recommended condition(s) is recorded locally and is considered prior to any type of release (including HDC and early release on compassionate grounds). MENU OF ADDITIONAL LICENCE CONDITIONS 40. The menu of additional licence conditions, together with the list of requirements as set out in the Statutory Instrument is set out in the table at Appendix B. NEW ARRANGEMENTS FOR HANDLING RECALL REQUESTS 41. The Criminal Justice Act 2003 introduces new provisions for recall of determinate sentence prisoners. These provisions will have a significant impact on the future handling of recall requests. The new provisions come into force with immediate effect for all prisoners on licence and in the community on 4 April In practical terms, this means that all breach reports received on or after this date will be dealt with in accordance with the new procedures set out below. CONSIDERATION OF THE INITIAL RECALL REQUEST 42. Under the new provisions the Parole Board will no longer be involved in the initial decision whether to recall determinate sentence prisoners. This decision will be taken by Early Release and Recall Section on behalf of the Secretary of State. 43. The Early Release and Recall Section will consider all recall requests within 24 hours of receipt. However, where the probation service believes it is necessary for the protection of the public to return a prisoner to custody quickly, it should make an emergency request. Emergency requests will be actioned within 2 hours of receipt of all the necessary documentation. 44. Emergency requests will normally be applicable when: The offender is subject to MAPPA level 3 arrangements; There is current evidence that the offender is considered to present a high or very high risk of serious harm; The prisoner s behaviour has deteriorated to such an extent that re-offending is believed to be imminent. Chief Officers are asked to ensure that when a request for recall is made to the Early Release and Recall Section, emergency or otherwise, contact details for all officers involved are made clear on the request. The standard request form for requesting a recall is at Appendix A. 45. This form must be completed in all cases. Failure to do so may result in the recall being delayed. In some emergency cases, there will not be time to complete the form and information will have to be PC16/2005 Criminal Justice Act 2003 Early Release and Recall 8

9 conveyed by phone in the first instance. However, the paperwork should be completed and returned as soon as possible after the recall has been actioned. 46. Please note that when making a request for a recall, the supervising officer must provide the following information in the breach report: MAPPA LEVEL OF RISK (i) These relate to the levels of risk management of MAPPA offenders contained in PC 25/2003. Level 3 MAPPA offenders, and those managed at level 2, but whose behaviour is leading to an increasing and unmanageable level of risk, should normally always be recalled on an emergency basis. THE BREACH (ii) Specify which condition has been breached. In detailing the breach and it s circumstances, the officer must set out any deterioration in behaviour/compliance which has led to an assessment that the risk of harm or re-offending has increased to an unacceptable level, comment upon the offender s behaviour and general response to supervision during the licence period and detail any previous breaches and action taken in response. (iii) Any relevant police information/intelligence obtained in accordance with the Joint Protocol and whether the offender is subject to any other orders of the Court, which may be relevant to their risk management in the community. (iv) Any relevant evidence from other agencies. RISK ASSESSMENT (v) The results of risk assessment tools already undertaken, including OASys, together with any other information which might inform an up to date judgement on the likelihood of re-offending and its potential impact (i.e. the level of harm) at the point of notification/request for recall. RISK MANAGEMENT PLAN (vi) Likely future compliance with licence conditions and supervision; (vii) Future management arrangements, including the use of additional conditions, accommodation, offending behaviour work, employment opportunities, etc. Where any parts of the plan cannot be immediately put in place, you will need to give likely timescales. These might influence the timing of any future review or re-release date. (viii) Whether the offender needs to undertake further work whilst in custody, in order to facilitate a safe rerelease and, if known, the likely timescale. (ix) The ACO (or equivalent grade) endorsement (a signature is not required if it delay the processing of the recall, but the ACO must be named and a contact number must be provided). 47. It is anticipated that some of the above information will not be readily available at the point at which recall is requested, but should be made available as soon as possible thereafter. The supervising officer should note that where breach requests do not contain sufficient information on which to take the initial recall decision, it may be necessary for Early Release and Recall Section staff to go back to the supervising officer and this could delay taking a decision on whether to recall. DISCLOSURE 48. The assumption is that any information supplied by the probation service in support of recall will be disclosed to the offender once he/she has been returned to custody. However, there are arrangements to withhold particularly sensitive information. This may include details of, or provided by, witnesses or victims or intelligence supplied by the police or other criminal justice agencies. Guidance on withholding information can PC16/2005 Criminal Justice Act 2003 Early Release and Recall 9

10 be found in Probation Circular 13/2003. If there is any concern about whether or not a document should be withheld please contact the Early Release and Recall Section caseworker for advice. RECALL DOSSIER 49. A written request for recall forms the basis of the recall dossier, which is served on the Parole Board when it reviews the case. In addition to the breach report, the following information must be submitted to the Early Release and Recall Section for inclusion in the dossier: (i) A copy of the licence, (ii) Details of any previous convictions, (iii) The pre-sentence report (iv) Any other relevant information (such as the summary or extract of recent risk assessments; the summary, the gist or relevant extract of a MAPPA meeting; or in the case of a prisoner who applied for parole, the most recent PAR) (v) A copy of the court form 5089, which will state any recommendations made by the sentencing court in respect of additional licence conditions. 50. This information should be submitted to the Early Release and Recall Section at the same time as the recall request. Failure to do so could result in delays in recall action being taken. CONTACT DETAILS 51. When an emergency request for recall is being made, the supervising officer is asked to be available for at least 30 minutes after sending the request in order to answer any queries from staff in the Early Release and Recall Section. 52. Whenever possible, requests for all recalls should be made during the standard office hours for ERRS: 9am-5pm. In every case the probation service should provide the contact details of the local police Single Point of Contact (SPOC) (including a fax number) so that an arrest can be made as soon as possible. When the ERRS has issued a revocation notice and informed the police SPOC, they will also inform the supervising officer of the decision. 53. The request for an emergency recall must always be initiated by a phone call, not by fax, although the Early Release and Recall Section will request that further details are subsequently faxed through. 54. An Early Release and Recall Section caseworker is on duty in the ERRS office from 9am-5pm every day (including for HDC only, Saturdays and Sundays in the London office only). 55. The Early Release and Recall Section enforcement casework teams have been re-organised and teams have each been allocated specific geographic areas to cover. This has been done to facilitate contact between the Probation Service and ERRS. The contact details of the new teams and the regions they cover will be issued through area recall liaison officers before 4 April 2005 and will be updated on a quarterly basis thereafter. 56. However, any breach reports in respect of offenders who are MAPPA level 3 or Level 2 and rising, as well as those for extended sentence prisoners should continue to be referred to the Early Release and Recall Section Public Protection Team. OUT OF HOURS SERVICE 57. Outside these times, an out of hours service operates for emergency recall requests only. To contact the out of hours service, the supervising officer should contact the Home Office switchboard and give the reason for the call. The telephone number is , option 7 (Prison Service). The switchboard operator will relay the details of the call to the out of hours officer. On occasions there may be a delay in responding to the call if the officer is in the process of dealing with an earlier enquiry. PC16/2005 Criminal Justice Act 2003 Early Release and Recall 10

11 58. Chief Officers are asked to note that the out of hours service is only to be used to seek emergency recall in those cases where the ERRS has the authority to intervene and where the offender is thought to pose an immediate risk to the public. Out of hours officers work from home and have no access to files or electronic data. Furthermore, they have no contact with other parts of the Home Office. 59. Normally a request for recall out of hours should be made by an ACO or someone of the equivalent rank. If a junior officer makes the request, he/she must have the prior authority of an ACO. 60. When contacting the out of hours service, the officer must have the details of the offender available, as well as contact details and a fax number for the local police SPOC to which the revocation order should be sent. RECALL FOLLOWING A FURTHER CHARGE 61. When an offender under supervision is charged with an offence committed whilst he or she is on licence, consideration must always be given to whether there has been a breach of the good behaviour condition and if so, whether it is sufficiently serious to warrant recall. When considering breach action, the probation area should disregard the charge, the plea and whether the offender has been remanded into custody and instead focus upon: (i) (ii) (iii) The behaviour of the offender surrounding the incident that resulted in the charge being made; Whether the new offence is similar to the one for which the offender is on licence and was originally sentenced; Whether the new offence indicates any rise in the level and immediacy of the risk the offender presents to others. If having considered all available information, the supervising officer considers that on balance, there has been a breach of the good behaviour condition; the presumption must be to request recall. The only exception is where the breach is considered to be sufficiently minor as to warrant a warning. DIVERGENCE OF VIEW OVER THE APPROPRIATENESS FOR RECALL 62. Once the Early Release and Recall Section caseworker has received the breach request and relevant supporting information a decision on recall will be taken. In the event that the Early Release and Recall Section caseworker disagrees with the Probation Service over the need to breach an offender, they must discuss the matter with an appropriate manager within the Section, who in turn will discuss the case with the Probation Service before a final decision is made. In cases where the offender is MAPPA Level 2 rising to Level 3 or MAPPA Level 3, the Head of Casework or Head of the Public Protection Team will contact the ACO if there is any disagreement in order to see if a consensus view can be reached. Where it cannot, and the ACO remains of the view that recall is necessary and appropriate, the Early Release and Recall Section will act accordingly. In all cases, no decision should be taken within Early Release and Recall Section not to proceed with a breach report without the prior approval of a manager of at least the HEO grade. UNLAWFULLY AT LARGE 63. When a decision has been made to recall an offender the revocation order will be signed and copied to the relevant Probation Service, New Scotland Yard (for inclusion on the Police National Computer) and, where the contact details are made available, the local police force SPOC. The Early Release and Recall Section caseworker will monitor progress on the case throughout the UAL period until it has been notified that the offender has been returned to custody or the caseworker is satisfied that the offender has gone to ground, normally 14 days from the issue of the revocation order. The Early Release and Recall Section will notify the Probation Service when the offender is returned to custody, or the case is no longer being monitored. 64. When the offender has been returned to custody, Early Release and Recall Section will issue the reasons for recall, together with all supporting documentation, to the prison holding the offender, so that the PC16/2005 Criminal Justice Act 2003 Early Release and Recall 11

12 reports can be served on the offender. The offender will be invited to declare whether he/she will be submitting representations against recall. The covering note of the recall dossier will strongly advise the offender to cooperate with his/her supervising officer on the preparation of the risk management plan. SENTENCE CALCULATION TIME FOLLOWING REVOCATION OF LICENCE 65. On revocation of a licence, the offender will be deemed to be unlawfully at large until their return to custody. For sentence calculation purposes UAL time is counted from the day after revocation to the day before they are brought back to custody. 66. In cases where an offender is re-released following representations being accepted by the Parole Board, they must be released back on licence, with the dates adjusted to reflect any time spent unlawfully at large. 67. Prisoners sentenced under any provisions other than those of the Criminal Justice Act 2003, will be released on licence or not, according to the terms under which they were imprisoned. However, if they would normally be re-released on licence to sentence expiry date (SED), then irrespective of whether the Parole Board re-release the prisoner before the licence expiry date, the new licence will still run to SED. The prisoner may then be recalled at any point through the remaining duration of the licence, which may, in some cases, lead to multiple recalls. This will obviously be the case for offenders sentenced under the 2003 Act, since they remain on licence for the whole of the second half of the sentence. PAROLE BOARD REVIEW OF THE RECALL DECISION AND THE PRISONER S DETENTION 68. The Early Release and Recall Section will aim to present each case to the Parole Board for consideration within 28 days of the offender returning to custody. 69. The Early Release and Recall Section will notify the Probation Service of the date that the case is due to be considered by the Parole Board and, at the same time, will notify them if the prisoner has decided to make representations against recall. Please note that the Probation Service will not be served with a copy of the prisoner s representations unless the Parole Board specifically requires it. When the Parole Board reviews the case, it will be asked to consider the following: Was the initial decision to recall the prisoner justified, taking into account the Secretary of State s directions on the recall of determinate sentence prisoners and information available both at the time and subsequent to the decision being taken. If the decision was not justified, can the prisoner be safely re-released into the community. If so, the prisoner must be re-released immediately, but if not, the case will be considered as if recall was justified. If the decision was justified, the Parole Board must then determine whether to: o Set a re-release date. This could be immediate or at a future date. Where the Board decides to re-release straight away, it will usually set the release date as the next but one working day in order to give the probation service time to make any necessary arrangements; or o Set a date for a further review of the prisoner s detention. This date must be within twelve months. The Parole Board is required to state what initial information it will need at the point at which the case is reviewed. 70. The Parole Board may decide not to set a re-release date or a further review date if there is less than 12 months until the sentence expiry date. Where this applies, the prisoner will be released upon the expiry of the sentence. 71. The assumption is that wherever possible, the Parole Board will look to re-release the prisoner as soon as it is practicable and safe to do so. In making its decision, the Board will want to be satisfied that the arrangements for the offender s supervision are sufficient to manage risk in the community in the PC16/2005 Criminal Justice Act 2003 Early Release and Recall 12

13 future. Therefore, the risk management plan will play a critical part in determining when the prisoner is rereleased. 72. There will be cases where imminent re-release is not practicable. This will normally be where the prisoner is assessed as a high risk of committing violent or sexual offences and the likelihood of such reoffending is unacceptably high; or the prisoner does not present a physical threat, but their behaviour has deteriorated to such an extent, that re-offending is believed to be imminent. In such cases, it is recognised that it would be difficult to construct a plan sufficiently robust to manage such a high level of risk. 73. There will also be cases where the prisoner s response to supervision during the current sentence has been so poor that it is considered highly unlikely that he/she will be willing or able to comply with future supervision if re-released on licence. In such cases, it should still be the intention to effect a successful supervision period wherever possible, and careful consideration will be given by the Parole Board to information contained within any risk management plan concerning re-release arrangements and the use of additional licence conditions, even if the preparation of such arrangements ultimately delays release. 74. In all other cases and where the Board is in receipt of a satisfactory risk management plan, the assumption is that the Board will be able to set a re-release date. However, each case will be considered on its merits and there are a variety of factors which can influence this decision. 75. The Probation Service will play a critical role in influencing this decision through the preparation of the risk management plan. Preparation of a risk management plan should commence at the point at which the prisoner is recalled, although it is recognised that it might not be possible to finalise it until after the prisoner has been returned to custody. As the plan will be part of the breach report, it will be disclosed to the prisoner, who will have the opportunity to comment upon its proposals. 76. In some cases, the period left to serve on licence is so short (less than a month) that it renders implementation of such a plan impractical. Where this is the case, a detailed plan is not required. 77. There will also be instances where, for a variety of reasons, the supervising officer is unable to draw up an effective risk management plan. Where this is the case, the breach report should include an explanation of the difficulties and what action the supervising officer is proposing to take to tackle them and how much time will be needed in order to produce such a plan. 78. In any case, when the supervising officer submits an up to date risk management plan to ERRS, or any report after the initial breach notification report has been submitted, they must at the same time send a copy to the holding establishment, requesting that it be disclosed to the offender. 79. Prisoners given a standard determinate sentence may, potentially, be held in custody following recall until the expiry of their sentence. However, prisoners sentenced under the provisions of the Criminal Justice Act 1991 must be re-released at the three quarter point of the licence. All such prisoners will be re-released on licence until their sentence expiry and will continue to be supervised and liable to recall. EARLY REVIEW 80. Where the Parole Board declines to set a forward release date and instead sets a date for an early review, there may be a number of factors which influences its decision. It might be that the current risk presented by the offender is considered to be so high, that safe re-release back into the community could not be achieved. Alternatively, it might not have been possible for the Probation Area to finalise a risk management plan or the Parole Board consider that the plan available is inadequate to manage the level of risk presented by the offender. 81. It is envisaged that where the Board sets a date for a further review of detention, it will specify the information it will need in time for the review. The Early Release and Recall Section will relate this information back to the Probation Service and will work with the relevant officers to provide the material in time for the date of the review. In planning any further reviews, Chief Officers are reminded that staff must factor in the need to PC16/2005 Criminal Justice Act 2003 Early Release and Recall 13

14 disclose information to the offender before the Board considers it and to allow time for the offender to make representations. 82. The kind of information required might include: The offender may have embarked upon an offending behaviour programme within custody. The Board may want reports on progress. The recall may have resulted in the loss of hostel accommodation (or been prompted by it). The Board may want information on the availability of a hostel placement or alternative suitable accommodation. The prisoner may be awaiting prosecution for further criminal offences and the Board may decide to defer consideration until after the outcome is known The Board might be concerned that there has been insufficient attention given to the prisoner s rerelease plans and wishes to review the case once the service has had the opportunity to review and provide a revised plan for future supervision. This information will normally be presented in the format of an updated risk management plan. 83. The Probation Service should make every attempt to provide any information requested by the Parole Board. It should also consider whether to recommend additional licence conditions in order adequately to manage the risk upon the prisoner s re-release. ANNUAL REVIEWS 84. In cases where the Parole Board considers the offender to present such a high risk or that the likelihood of future compliance is so low that release is not an option and SED is more than 12 months away, the offender will be entitled to an annual review 12 months later. The Probation Service will be required to submit a report in the form of a PAR when requested by the prison parole clerk. SMITH AND WEST JUDGMENT ORAL HEARINGS 85. The House of Lords has ruled that the Parole Board s refusal to offer two prisoners, Smith and West, an oral hearing to consider their representations against recall was a breach of common law procedural fairness. The Court went on to list circumstances in which an oral hearing might be appropriate: There is a dispute over fact; The offender offers an explanation for their behaviour or the incident leading to recall The reasons for recall need further exploration. 86. The Parole Board will continue to review every case on the papers, as set out above. In cases where it decides to fix a re-release date, it will not be necessary to offer an oral hearing. In cases where release was not considered to be appropriate and the offender has declined to make representations, again the Board is not required to offer an oral hearing. In those cases where the offender has made representations and the Board declines to release and where it considers that an oral hearing is required in order to establish the facts, an oral hearing will be offered. 87. At an oral hearing, the offender is entitled to be present and legally represented. The Secretary of State will sometimes be represented by a member of staff from the Early Release and Recall Section. Both parties may call witnesses and will have the opportunity to question them, as well as make written and oral submissions. The panel will usually be a single member of the Parole Board. 88. Supervising officers are required to cooperate with the oral hearing process and provide any additional information directed by the Parole Board. The Early Release and Recall Section will liaise between the Board, the Probation Service and the offender s legal representatives. In some cases the Board will request that a supervising officer or hostel staff attend the oral hearing and give evidence in person. The Early Release and Recall Section will notify the relevant probation area and will provide details of the hearing. PC16/2005 Criminal Justice Act 2003 Early Release and Recall 14

15 89. In cases where the Board s concern is about the re-release arrangements, as set out in the risk management plan, it might be possible to provide the additional material in an addendum report, in which case it may not be necessary to attend the hearing. 90. The Probation Service, Early Release and Recall Section and Parole Board are considering the use of video and telephone conferencing facilities in order to reduce the need for probation staff to travel to attend oral hearings, although these facilities are not currently available. 91. Probation Circular 45B/2004 sets out the information required for an oral hearing and the work that will need to be undertaken by the supervising officer. Any queries relating to an oral hearing should be referred to the Oral Hearing and Further Review Team, details of which are included in the contact sheet attached at Annex D. EXTENDED SENTENCE PRISONERS 92. A request for recall in respect of an offender serving an extended sentence is made through the Early Release and Recall Section in the same way as any other offender and the arrangements set out above will apply. PRISONERS SECTIONED UNDER THE MENTAL HEALTH ACT 93. An offender who has been released from custody on supervision licence, and is subsequently detained, or sectioned under the Mental Health Act, and is in hospital, may still be considered for recall if there are sufficient grounds to do so. However, in the circumstances, (and following a successful legal challenge of this point), the fact that the offender is already detained in a hospital should be noted in the recall request report. This will enable the Early Release and Recall Section simultaneously to seek the issue of a Section 47 Transfer Direction from the governor of the releasing prison, which will enable the offender to remain in the hospital while being considered as in custody for the purposes of recall. VICTIMS 94. When an offender is recalled, the probation area responsible for the recall must ensure that the relevant Victim Liaison Officer or Victim Team are informed. The Victim Liaison Officer or Victim Team will decide whether the victim or victim s family should be informed. In some cases there may need to be liaison with victims in respect of the use of additional licence conditions, although ultimately, it will be a matter for the supervising officer to determine which additional conditions should be applied for. INTER AGENCY LIAISON ON RECALL 95. The Recall Forum has been established to oversee and review recall arrangements and working practices, identifying and tackling information gaps, improve liaison between the relevant agencies involved in recall and review the collation and dissemination of management information. Each probation area has identified a Recall Liaison Officer who is invited to attend recall forum meetings. In addition to Recall Liaison Officers, there are representatives from the ERRS, National Probation Directorate, Lifer Review and Recall Section, the Parole Board and the Police. 96. The Forum meets quarterly. Officers, who are interested in attending meetings or wish to identify issues for review, please contact the secretary of the Forum on In addition, the Early Release and Recall Section issue the quarterly Recall Newsletter. This sets out changes in policy in respect of recall, examples of best practice, provides answers to most frequently asked questions by the Probation Service and updates progress on outstanding judicial reviews in respect of recalled prisoners. The Recall Newsletter is disseminated via the Recall Liaison Officers. A list of existing Recall Liaison Officers is attached at Appendix D. If you wish to submit any articles or questions for the next edition of the Recall Newsletter please contact the editor, on PC16/2005 Criminal Justice Act 2003 Early Release and Recall 15

16 TEMPORARY TRAVEL OUTSIDE THE UK AND ISLANDS General prohibition on travel abroad 98. This guidance replaces previous guidance, in PC 52/97, on temporary travel abroad; the policy, that offenders on licence should not generally be permitted to leave the UK or Islands, remains unchanged. Problems have arisen where offenders, or their families, unaware of this general prohibition on travel abroad, have booked foreign holidays or arranged business trips, and only then been advised that they are not permitted to leave the country during the currency of their post-release licence. It is important, therefore, that all offenders are informed about this prohibition as soon as possible, ideally by the prison at the beginning of the period of imprisonment. 99. The period of post-release supervision on licence forms an integral part of the sentence imposed by the court. To ensure that offenders remain subject to such supervision, temporary travel outside the UK and Islands should only be permitted in exceptional compassionate circumstances and not for the purposes of a holiday, business or recreation. It is a standard condition of a post-release licence that an offender shall not travel outside the United Kingdom without obtaining the prior permission of your supervising officer, which will be given in exceptional circumstances only. It is this licence condition which provides the legal authority for the prohibition. This circular provides guidance only on the policy which should be maintained by probation services when considering requests to travel abroad. Circumstances in which a request to travel abroad may be considered 100. If there are compelling compassionate reasons to consider a request to travel abroad, for example, to visit a dying relative or to attend a family funeral, services should not support such requests without obtaining confirmation of the circumstances and of the address at which the offender will stay Any travel outside the UK and Islands should be limited to a length of time which would not interfere with the process of supervision and should not be authorised if the offender s response to supervision is causing concern on grounds of risk to the public. Who may authorise requests 102. Temporary travel outside the UK and Islands should be authorised in line with this guidance by an officer of at least ACO grade. In cases where the ACO believe the criteria for temporary travel has been met, it is no longer necessary to refer the case to the Parole Board to seek approval. Lifers 103. These instructions relating to temporary travel outside the UK and Islands do not apply to Lifers. Officers should consult the Lifer Manual in cases where an offender on life licence wishes to travel abroad, seeking advice as necessary from the Lifer Review and Recall Section. Any additional local guidance should also be consulted. Temporary travel within the UK and Islands 104. There is no prohibition on temporary travel within the UK and Islands provided that supervision arrangements continue to meet the requirements set out in National Standards and that the offender complies with the requirements of his licence: 'permanently to reside at an address approved by your supervising officer and notify him or her in advance of any proposed stay (even for one night) away from that approved address'. The duration of any visit will, therefore, be governed by the frequency of contact required by the supervising officer. Supervising officers need to make it clear to offenders that they should seek the supervising officer's authorisation for proposals to travel away from home overnight. Supervising officers should, as a matter of good practice, notify the relevant authority in the jurisdiction to which the offender proposes to travel. PC16/2005 Criminal Justice Act 2003 Early Release and Recall 16

17 APPENDIX A GUIDANCE ON THE COMPLETION OF THE REPORT TO THE EARLY RELEASE AND RECALL SECTION ON BREACH NOTIFICATION, REQUEST FOR RECALL, AND REVIEW BY THE PAROLE BOARD INTRODUCTION AND PRINCIPLES: On behalf of the Secretary of State, ERRS will make an executive decision on whether to recall an offender to custody in all cases. In the case of an emergency recall, where the offender is assessed as a very high risk of serious harm (the potential impact is serious and the event is imminent), or in any case where re-offending is assessed as imminent, ERRS will process the request within 2 hours. In all other cases, where the offender is assessed as requiring recall, the request will be processed by ERRS within 24 hours. The Parole Board will review all recall decisions once the offender has been returned to custody (whether or not they wish to make representations). The Parole Board will consider the following: whether the recall was justified, given the information available both at the time of recall, and subsequent to the decision being taken. If the recall is not upheld, the prisoner must be released immediately a re-release date a date for further review The Parole Board will look to re-release the prisoner as soon as is practicable based on the manageability of the risks they present in the community. The new recall provisions aim to provide flexibility, thus providing the probation Service with a more effective risk management tool. GUIDANCE FOR COMPLETING THE REPORT FOR THE NOTIFICATION OF BREACH OF LICENCE, REQUEST FOR RECALL AND REVIEW BY THE PAROLE BOARD (PAGES 1-2) TELEPHONE NUMBER/FAX NUMBER: This should be the report author/supervising officer s contact number. Although the Assistant Chief Officer (ACO) (or equivalent) is accountable for decisions made, the ERRS need effective communication with the officer writing the report, who should have the necessary information. SINGLE POINT OF CONTACT (SPOC): These details will be provided to staff by the ACO for Recall (Recall Liaison Officer), following the Joint National Protocol accompanied by PC03/2005, Supervision, Revocation and Recall for Prisoners Released on Licence. The SPOC number is essential to enable ERRS to inform the local police so that they can return the offender to custody as efficiently as possible. The telephone number must be one on which ERRS can make contact outside normal hours. RECOMMENDATION ON RECALL: Emergency recall will be retained for those offenders who are assessed as a very high risk of serious harm, or whose supervision has broken down to the point where re-offending is imminent, regardless of the potential for harm to the public posed by that re-offending. PC16/2005 Criminal Justice Act 2003 Early Release and Recall 1

18 MAPPA LEVELS OF RISK MANAGEMENT: These pertain to the OASys levels of risk of harm, and the levels of risk management of MAPPA offenders contained in PC 25/2003. Level 3 MAPPA offenders and those managed at level 2, but whose behaviour is leading to an increasing and unmanageable level of risk, can be recalled on an emergency basis. The appropriate box can be completed on screen by following the directions. GUIDANCE ON THE PROBATION REPORT TO ERRS FOR THE CONSIDERATION OF RECALL AND TO THE PAROLE BOARD CONSIDERING RE-RELEASE (PAGES 3-7) CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE BREACH: Wherever enforcement action is taken according to National Standards, the recall process must be started. ERRS will act on probation information to initiate the process of licence revocation. The Parole Board will have the details of any previous reports on recall in the dossier. It is important that you identify the particular condition that has been broken. The six standard conditions and additional specified conditions are detailed in the accompanying Probation Circular. In detailing the breach and its circumstances, you must show the deterioration in behaviour/compliance, which leads you to assess that the risk of harm, or re-offending has increased to an unacceptable level. Whilst the seriousness of the breach is a factor, it s importance lies in how it demonstrates the breakdown of supervision and increasingly risky behaviour of the offender. Any general deterioration in behaviour, which undermines the purposes of supervision, should lead to breach under standard condition (vi). In cases where the offender is charged with a further offence it is important that you identify the behaviour leading to your assessment of risk of re-offending and/or harm and breach action. It is not enough to state that the good behaviour condition in the licence has been breached by the further charges, which may be dropped at a later stage. In considering the information that could evidence deterioration in behaviour and increase in risks, you should contact the local police force in line with the Joint Protocol and take into account any police information/intelligence in the assessment of risk. This should be considered alongside any police information that was used in pre-release planning, in particular cases outlined in the Protocol. Your report will be disclosed to the offender and should be shared with them to inform future supervision. If your recall request uses evidence from other agencies, or victims, which is sensitive or puts anyone at risk, you should consider how to present that information using PC13/2003. Where the offender is managed within the MAPPA framework at level 2 or 3, and there are meeting notes which could inform the Parole Board s decision making, it is important that you consider how this information should be disclosed. It may be more useful to the process to incorporate the assessments made in Multi-Agency meetings, rather than send the MAPPA meeting minutes as enclosures. ERRS will take the decision to recall based on the evidence given of the breakdown of supervision and increased risk of re-offending, particularly where the risk of serious harm is present. RISK ASSESSMENT: This assessment will inform the executive decision to recall, and the Parole Board s later review of that decision and considerations on re-release. If there is no PSR containing an offence analysis the Parole Board will need a brief analysis of the current index offence. You should include the results of risk assessment tools already undertaken, any information from the Victim Liaison Officer and information from other agencies (including the police) to inform an up to date judgement on the likelihood of re-offending the individual presents, and the potential impact (i.e. the level of harm) at the point of notification/request for recall It is important to be specific about the increased risks; who is at risk, of what, when and in what circumstances, so that the risk management plan for re-release can address them. PC16/2005 Criminal Justice Act 2003 Early Release and Recall 2

19 ENDORSEMENT OF RISK ASSESSMENT AND RECALL REQUEST BY LINE MANAGER: It may not be practicable at this point to include the detailed Risk Management Plan, particularly in cases of emergency recall. Consequently, the line manager should add their comments and endorse the Risk Assessment and recommendation to recall at this point, so that recall can be processed by the ERRS. The ACO s (or equivalent grade senior manager s) endorsement can be made verbally where a personal signature may delay the submission of the report and recall. COMMENTS BY THE SENIOR MANAGER (ACO OR EQUIVALENT): The ERRS officer processing the request will record this as an ACO level recommendation/decision. The Senior Manager s name must be inserted for ERRS to contact when necessary. ERRS GUIDANCE: When ERRS have issued the revocation notice and informed the SPOC, they will also inform the supervising officer responsible for the report, whose telephone/fax number appears on the front. ENCLOSURES: Form 5089 is issued by the sentencing Court and contains details of the sentence and any recommendations given, and goes to the establishment with the prisoner. The PSO issued to the Prison Service will require the establishment to send the 5089 to the probation service as soon as possible after sentence where the court has recommended additional licence conditions, so that they can take these into consideration during sentence and pre-release planning. RISK MANAGEMENT PLAN: The supervising officer must then look to devising an appropriate Risk Management Plan for the Parole Board review, which should take place within 28 days of the offenders return to custody. The ERRS will inform the supervising officer of the prisoner s return to custody and a date for review by the Parole Board. The risk management plan must be completed and sent to the ERRS within 15 days of the return to custody. Having identified the risks, the management plan should address how they can be effectively managed in the community. Specifically what action can reduce the risk of what event happening, to whom, and how it will work? The Parole Board will need to balance the risks, and the need to protect the public, against the benefits of future supervision in the community. It will look to re-release as soon as is practicable and safe to do so. The decision will be based upon whether it is satisfied that the risk management plan is sufficient to manage the offender s risks in the community. The factors it will take into account and which will need to be addressed in the risk management plan are: Likely future compliance with licence conditions and supervision Management arrangements, including the use of additional conditions, accommodation, offending behaviour, employment opportunities, etc. Where any parts of the plan cannot be immediately put in place (e.g. accommodation), you must advise on what needs to happen, and the likely time scale, in order to effect a successful re-release risk management plan. These might influence the timing of the next review. Whether the offender needs to undertake further work whilst in custody, in order to facilitate a safe rerelease, and the likely time scale if known. The Parole Board will require an update at any further review when they will look to re-release. PC16/2005 Criminal Justice Act 2003 Early Release and Recall 3

20 CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION: The recommendation must be based on the manageability of the offender. The Senior Manager is accountable for the decisions on manageability and the recommendation, and therefore must endorse them. The completed form should be faxed to the ERRS by the due date for review by the Parole Board. PC16/2005 Criminal Justice Act 2003 Early Release and Recall 4

21 Appendix B REPORT FOR THE NOTIFICATION OF BREACH OF LICENCE, REQUEST FOR RECALL AND REVIEW BY THE PAROLE BOARD. PROBATION DETAILS Probation Contact: Probation Area: Telephone number (Direct Line/Mobile No.): Fax number: Police Single Point of Contact (SPOC): Fax/Telephone number: POLICE DETAILS Name: Date of birth: Ethnic Category: Prison No.: Last known address: Index offence: Date of offence 1 : OFFENDER DETAILS 1 Please insert the date of the earliest offence committed for which the offender is serving this sentence.