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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2014-06-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prisoners who breached their temporary licence conditions in each of the last three years were granted further release on temporary licence.

Jeremy Wright

An answer to this question could only be provided at disproportionate cost. It would entail detailed checking of over 1,100 individual prisoner records relating to those who had breached conditions attached to their temporary release during this period in order to see whether they had subsequently been granted further temporary release.

The number of temporary release failures remains very low, less that one failure in every 1,000 releases and only around five failures in every 100,000 releases involve alleged offending; but we are keenly aware of understandable public concern about temporary release failures. Towards the end of May we accelerated our plans to improve release on temporary licence (ROTL) policy and practice. We brought forward aspects of the new “restricted ROTL” approach for serious offenders to safeguard the public, and the requirement that no ROTL can take place without a clearly defined, legitimate purpose. In addition, those who have failed to return from or offended on temporary release, or who have absconded or escaped from custody during the current sentence will now be refused temporary release in the absence of exceptional circumstances.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2014-06-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prisoners in open prisons were returned to closed prisons in each of the last three years by (a) reason for their return and (b) type of offence originally committed.

Jeremy Wright

We do not centrally hold data on the individual reasons for determinate sentence prisoner transfers, including transfers following re-categorisation and when prisoners have been returned to closed conditions from open prisons. Where this is available, the information could only be obtained at disproportionate cost as it would involve a manual trawl through the records of every prisoner to identify if they have ever been held in open conditions and subsequently returned to closed conditions.

However, the information, in part, is centrally available in respect of indeterminate sentence prisoners.

Table 1 provides the number of indeterminate sentence prisoners who have been returned from open conditions to closed conditions and where the transfer occurred between 1 April 2011 and 31 March 2014, grouped by year and by reason for transfer. The data has been drawn from administrative IT systems which, as with any large scale recording system, are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing.

We are unable to provide a breakdown of this information by index offence as this information is not held centrally; to obtain it would require a manual trawl through every case and this would incur disproportionate cost.

REASON FOR RETURN TO CLOSED PRISON	2011-12	2012-13	2013-14	Grand Total
Abscond	117	161	170	448
Antisocial Behaviour	48	96	74	218
Breach of Licence Conditions	30	33	56	120
Drink/Drugs	139	171	256	568
FNP			3	3
Healthcare issues			5	5
New charges/offences			2	2
Non compliance		1	28	29
Other	135	235	298	668
Prisoner request			2	2
Psychology concerns/issues			6	6
Serious breach of prison rules		1	21	22
Grand Total	469	698	921	2,087

The main purpose of open conditions is to test prisoners in conditions more similar to those that they will face in the community. Time spent in open prisons affords prisoners the opportunity to find work, re-establish family ties, reintegrate into the community and ensure housing needs are met. For many prisoners who have spent a considerable amount of time in custody; these can assist in their successful reintegration in the community and protecting the public.

We make no apologies for taking a firm approach in returning prisoners to closed conditions wherever we need to do so.

The number of temporary release failures remains very low; less that one failure in every 1,000 releases and about five in every 100,000 releases involving alleged offending, but we take each and every incident seriously. The Government has already ordered immediate changes to tighten up the system as a matter of urgency. With immediate effect, prisoners will no longer be transferred to open conditions if they have previously absconded from open prisons; or if they have failed to return or reoffended whilst released on temporary licence.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2014-06-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prisoners in an open prison have previously breached a licence condition while released on temporary licence.

Jeremy Wright

Keeping the public safe is our priority. That is why this Government has taken action on both releases on temporary licence (ROTL) and absconds from prison.

We commissioned a fundamental review of ROTL policy and practice last year and, in March, announced a package of measures to ensure that the public was properly protected. We have brought forward some of those measures so that they take effect immediately; particularly with more serious offenders, where the review concluded that an enhanced risk assessment approach should be taken.

Absconds have reached record lows under this Government but each incident is taken seriously. Immediate changes have already been ordered to tighten up the system as a matter of urgency. Prisoners will no longer be transferred to open conditions or allowed out on temporary release if they have previously absconded.

My officials are currently working to provide the information requested. I will write to you in due course.

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2014-06-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prisoners in open prisons have previously absconded or escaped from prison.

Jeremy Wright

Keeping the public safe is our priority. That is why this Government has taken action on both releases on temporary licence (ROTL) and absconds from prison.

We commissioned a fundamental review of ROTL policy and practice last year and, in March, announced a package of measures to ensure that the public was properly protected. We have brought forward some of those measures so that they take effect immediately; particularly with more serious offenders, where the review concluded that an enhanced risk assessment approach should be taken.

Absconds have reached record lows under this Government but each incident is taken seriously. Immediate changes have already been ordered to tighten up the system as a matter of urgency. Prisoners will no longer be transferred to open conditions or allowed out on temporary release if they have previously absconded.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2014-06-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the daily average (a) number and (b) proportion is of prisoners serving custodial sentences who are out of prison on temporary licence in each county.

Jeremy Wright

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 conducted a fundamental review of the policy and practice of rerelease on temporary licence (ROTL) after serious failures last year. We are introducing a system that enhances the assessment of serious offenders and restricts access to ROTL to cases where there is a clear, legitimate reason for the release. We have already introduced some of these changes and have additionally introduced a restriction on prisoners transferring to open conditions and having ROTL if they have previously absconded from open prisons; or if they have failed to return or reoffended whilst released on temporary licence.

It has not been possible to provide an answer in the time specified, I will write to you with an answer as soon as possible.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2014-06-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the daily average (a) number and (b) proportion is of (i) male and (ii) female prisoners serving custodial sentences who are out of prison on temporary licence.

Jeremy Wright

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 conducted a fundamental review of the policy and practice of rerelease on temporary licence (ROTL) after serious failures last year. We are introducing a system that enhances the assessment of serious offenders and restricts access to ROTL to cases where there is a clear, legitimate reason for the release. We have already introduced some of these changes and have additionally introduced a restriction on prisoners transferring to open conditions and having ROTL if they have previously absconded from open prisons; or if they have failed to return or reoffended whilst released on temporary licence.

It has not been possible to provide an answer in the time specified, I will write to you with an answer as soon as possible.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2014-06-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the highest total number of life sentences given to any single offender is in the last 30 years.

Jeremy Wright

A life sentence is mandatory for murder and discretionary life sentences are available for other very serious offences. This Government has introduced an automatic life sentence for a second very serious violent or sexual offence.

The number of offenders who receive two or more life sentences is small. A number of life sentence prisoners commit offences in prison which result in a second life sentence, as is the case with the offender identified in response to this question. Some life sentence prisoners can also receive a second life sentence on conviction for offences committed prior to being imprisoned (e.g. a previous murder or rape).

Of all offenders sentenced to life imprisonment between the years 2000 and 2013, the offender with the highest number of life sentences imposed on separate sentencing occasions in the 30 years prior to their most recent life sentence is an offender with four life sentences. All of the offender’s life sentences were imposed for the attempted murder of fellow inmates and a guard.

The figure provided has been drawn from an extract of the Police National Computer (PNC) data held by the Department. The PNC holds details of all convictions and cautions given for recordable offences committed in England and Wales. Full criminal histories are only available for offenders convicted or cautioned for a recordable offence from the year 2000 onwards. In addition, as with any large scale recording system the PNC is subject to possible errors with data entry and processing.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2014-06-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the daily average (a) number and (b) proportion is of prisoners serving custodial sentences who are out of prison on temporary licence from category (i) A, (ii) B, (iii) C and (iv) D prisons.

Jeremy Wright

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 conducted a fundamental review of the policy and practice of rerelease on temporary licence (ROTL) after serious failures last year. We are introducing a system that enhances the assessment of serious offenders and restricts access to ROTL to cases where there is a clear, legitimate reason for the release. We have already introduced some of these changes and have additionally introduced a restriction on prisoners transferring to open conditions and having ROTL if they have previously absconded from open prisons; or if they have failed to return or reoffended whilst released on temporary licence.

It has not been possible to provide an answer in the time specified, I will write to you with an answer as soon as possible.