Parole Board Recommendations: Open Conditions Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateLord Moylan
Main Page: Lord Moylan (Conservative - Life peer)Department Debates - View all Lord Moylan's debates with the Ministry of Justice
(1 year, 6 months ago)
Lords ChamberThe Secretary of State gives reasons in every individual case, and those cases can be challenged.
My Lords, has my noble and learned friend given consideration to what might be called the ripple effect of the change in criteria on Parole Board decisions, where the sentences are less than life sentences, where it is making other judgments about moving people from closed to open prison? I ask that because anecdotally one hears—and my noble and learned friend may be able to comment on this—that there are now spare places in open prisons that cannot be filled, while the closed prison estate comes under ever more pressure.
My Lords, the Secretary of State, when introducing these new rules in January 2022, prioritised the precautionary principle and the protection of the public. Despite enormous pressure on the closed estate, he took the view—in my view rightly—that public protection was more important than the short-term expedient of transferring prisoners who are not suitable for open conditions to open conditions simply to reduce pressures on the closed estate.