SL5 Legal

This Practice Note explains the scope and impact of Article 5(4) of the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR) on the rights of prisoners. It considers the scope of Article 5(4), procedural fairness (ie specific procedural guarantees for matters of deprivation of liberty which are distinct from the procedural guarantees of ECHR, Art 6), a prisoner’s right to an oral hearing and a speedy determination once proceedings are commenced, delay in the context of IPP prisoners (those serving a period of imprisonment for public protection), the requirement to provide a real opportunity for rehabilitation via eg offending behaviour courses and how the Secretary of State’s failure to provide access to relevant courses, may render a prisoner’s detention ‘unlawful’, damages or compensation which can be awarded for a violation of a prisoner's Article 5(4) rights, and issues under ECHR, Art 3 of Protocol 1.

The Practice Note explains the licence conditions which may be imposed by the Parole Board, re-release following recall for determinate sentence prisoners, extended sentence prisoners, lifers and imprisonment for public protections (IPPs). It includes information on what the Parole Board must do in respect of giving reasons for its decision. It covers seeking recommendations from the Secretary of State on what matters should be included in a licence, re-release following recall in cases of both determinate and indeterminate sentences, the balance to be struck when deciding whether it is necessary for the prisoner to be detained in order to protect the public from serious harm (to life and limb) as well as the factual basis for the risk assessment.

This Practice Note deals with the law on prisoner categorisation. It covers categorisation of adult males serving determinate sentences, the over-arching principles of categorisation, the legal framework of categorisation, the process of categorisation for Category A prisoners, the process of categorisation for prisoners other than Category A or life sentence prisoners, the first formal review of Category A prisoners, subsequent reviews of Category A prisoners and reviews of non-Category A prisoners.

This Practice Note provides an introduction to the system of release on temporary licence (ROTL), the types of ROTL which are available and the eligibility of adult prisoners for ROTL. It includes information on the appeal process and the offence which may be committed where a prisoner fails to return from a temporary licence.

This Practice Note explains the law concerning the repatriation of prisoners between the UK and overseas countries and territories governed by the Repatriation of Prisoners Act 1984 (RPA 1984) which has been in force since 15 April 1985. It considers warrants for the transfer of persons serving sentences between the UK and international prisons, either under treaty or bilateral agreement, and where consent of the prisoner is necessary as well as briefly considering where there is a legitimate expectation as to the process to be applied between states for prison transfers.