Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prisoners held in open prisons have previously breached a licence condition whilst released on temporary licence on more than one occasion.

Temporary release can be a valuable tool in the resettlement of prisoners in the community, but it must never take place at the expense of public safety. We have conducted a fundamental review of the policy and practice of release on temporary licence (ROTL). We have already made significant changes, including the introduction of a ban on transfer to open or ROTL for any prisoner who escapes, absconds, fails to return from ROTL or commits an offence whilst on ROTL during their current sentence.

There are few ROTL failures; substantially less than 0.1% in 2013 resulting in failure. Between April and June 2014 (the latest period for which data are available), there were a total of 69 recorded temporary release failures, 40% lower than the same quarter in 2013.

The change in policy for eligibility for open conditions mentioned above was not applied retrospectively. Offenders already in open conditions were assessed by NOMS and, for the most part, they were allowed to remain in open conditions because of their current compliance with the regime and favourable risk assessment. However, any prisoners who were assessed to present an unacceptable risk in such conditions in light of their previous non-compliance were returned to closed prisons.

As at 30 June 2014, there were a total of 8 prisoners held in open prisons who are recorded as having failed their release on temporary licence on more than one occasion between 01 April 2010 and 30 June 2014. Sufficiently detailed data on failures preceding this date could not be obtained except at disproportionate cost due to changes in recording practice. “ROTL Failure” includes all recorded breaches of ROTL; ie relatively minor breaches such as late return as well as more serious breaches like failure to return or offending on ROTL.