Prisoners' Release

(asked on 12th July 2021) - View Source

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prisoners convicted of serious violent crimes were released halfway through their sentence in 2020-21.


Answered by
Alex Chalk Portrait
Alex Chalk
Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice
This question was answered on 10th August 2021

In order to answer these questions, it would be necessary to establish the number of serious violent offenders affected by the Release of Prisoners (Alteration of Relevant Proportion of Sentence) Order 2020 but this could only be done at disproportionate cost.

Most offenders given a standard determinate sentence (SDS) must be released automatically at the halfway point of the sentence. Since the implementation of this Order, however, anyone sentenced on or after 1 April 2020 and given an SDS of 7 years or more for serious sexual or violent offences where the maximum penalty is a life sentence is required to spend two-thirds – rather than half – of that sentence in prison before being released on licence.

Data on sentencing outcomes by offence, including average custodial sentence length, is published here:

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/987715/outcomes-by-offence-2020.xlsx

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