Criminal Justice Bill

Part of the debate – in the House of Lords at 6:30 pm on 14 October 2003.

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Photo of Lord Carlisle of Bucklow Lord Carlisle of Bucklow Conservative 6:30, 14 October 2003

A few weeks ago the Government had acquired a reputation for excessive spin. In terms of this Bill, it appears to have moved very quickly from excessive spin to excessive stealth. Clause 176 introduces the concept of weekend imprisonment, which I welcome, but without any real announcements at all. In Clauses 235 and 236, effectively, we are doing away with the parole system as we have known it for many years. Instead of everyone serving a sentence of four years or more being eligible for consideration for parole at the half-way stage, under Clause 235 that half-term remission shall be automatic without the Parole Board having any say.

Amendment No. 203B, moved by my noble friend, applies to Clause 236, under which the Secretary of State is given the power to release at any moment any prisoner serving a fixed term of imprisonment—provided that it is a term of more than eight months—up to 135 days before the half way stage. What is the cause of this sudden change of attitude? The parole system, which stood the test of time for many years, was accepted as a sensible way of releasing an offender back into society. One can only assume that the immediate release of prisoners at the half-way stage of a short sentence, rather than the present four-year sentence, is to help provide space in prisons for additional prisoners which will arise as a result of the clauses that we have had on serious offences, which we have considered, and those on murder, which we will consider shortly.

However, what concerns me far more is the power now being taken by the Home Secretary to add another 135 days' release, apparently at will, for any prisoner whose sentence is long enough. Looking at the example cited by my noble friend Lord Bridgeman, if a man is serving five years in prison, in future he will come out automatically after two-and-a-half years and, if the Home Secretary so wishes, he can be released 135 days before that halfway point.

Before he replies, can I humbly remind the Minister that the basic reason why the parole system came into disrepute for a time both in the public eye and in the eye of the judiciary—and was the cause of the subsequent review—was the fact that people given identical sentences by the courts were being released at different times? Conversely, two people serving different sentences could come out on the same day. In any event, the period of the release bore little relationship to the sentence passed.

Here we shall have a situation where sentence is passed and then the Secretary of State, apparently of his own volition and without being required to give any reason, will be able to say that prisoners A, B and C will serve 18 months of their three-year sentences, while prisoner D is to be let out 135 days earlier. One can only assume again that the power is there is to be used if required for the purpose of helping to reduce overcrowding in prisons and to make room for the additional prisoners that the rest of this Bill will produce.

Like my noble friend Lord Bridgeman, I should like to hear from the Minister what is the philosophy behind the intention to provide a power for the Secretary of State to release prisoners sentenced by the court 135 days before the time that they would normally be released. The date of release is therefore no longer to be dependent on prisoners serving half of their sentences, but to be dependent on serving half the sentence less anything up to 135 days on the whim of the Home Secretary of the day.