Prisoners' detention 'unlawful'

Prisoners' detention 'unlawful'

The sentences of hundreds of prisoners could be affected after appeal judges ruled ministers acted unlawfully by keeping some inmates in jail too long.

The Court of Appeal said the government failed to provide inmates serving indeterminate sentences with courses to show they were safe for release.

This meant some were being held longer than necessary, judges concluded.

In another ruling, the court found the parole system in England and Wales was not independent enough from government.

Appeal judges upheld an earlier High Court decision that the Parole Board did not comply with the human rights of offenders because it lacked the independence from ministers required to make prisoner release decisions.

Life prisoners

The ruling on indeterminate sentences for public protection (IPP) - under which offenders must prove they are safe for release - came after an appeal by sex offender David Walker in July last year.

He successfully argued he could not be considered for release because his jail did not offer a parole course.

Although he was given an indeterminate sentence with a minimum tariff which expired in October, he was unable to be considered for release until he had gone through the parole procedure, which included going on a parole course.

But his lawyers said there were no parole courses for life prisoners at his category of jail. They claimed he was therefore being subjected to arbitrary detention in breach of his human rights.

Appeal judges at the time ruled in his favour and have now rejected an appeal by the Ministry of Justice against the decision.


Neither the Secretary of State [Jack Straw] nor his department has adequately addressed the need for the Parole Board to be and to be seen to be free of influence
Lord Phillips

Rejecting another appeal by Justice Secretary Jack Straw over the independence of the Parole Board system, the Lord Chief Justice said the High Court's findings that the board lacked independence were "fully supported" by the evidence.

The cause of the problem, Lord Phillips said, had been the change of function of the Parole Board.

It had been transformed from being an organisation which advised the Secretary of State over prisoner release, to that of a judicial body which decided whether offenders could be released if judged safe, the court was told.

Lord Phillips added: "Neither the Secretary of State [Jack Straw] nor his department has adequately addressed the need for the Parole Board to be and to be seen to be free of influence in relation to the performance of its judicial functions".