Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many and what proportion of prisoners (a) have served their original sentence and (b) maintain their innocence.

Data regarding how many and what proportions of prisoners have served their original sentence and maintain their innocence is not collated by the Ministry of Justice.

Innocence is a matter for the courts, so HM Prison and Probation Service and the Parole Board must treat the individual as being guilty of the crimes they have been convicted of but maintaining innocence does not prevent prisoners being released from custody. Most prisoners are released automatically and so their attitude to the index offence has no bearing on their release date. Where release is subject to review by the independent Parole Board, the Board take a range of factors into account, and they must direct an offender’s release where they are satisfied that the statutory release test has been met regardless of whether the prisoner maintains their innocence.