Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many and what proportion of prisoners were released from each prison on a Friday in each year since 2010.
The information requested is detailed in the table attached.
Prisoners are released when they have a statutory entitlement to be released once they have reached their automatic release date, or are released on a discretionary basis by the Parole Board, the Secretary of State or through early release on Home Detention Curfew (HDC) by prison governors.
If the automatic release date – which for the majority of prisoners is the half-way point in their sentence – falls on a weekend or Bank holiday, the law (Section 23(3) Criminal Justice Act 1961) requires the release to be brought forward to the first preceding working day. To defer the release date would mean holding the person unlawfully.
The exception is where the sentence is 5 days or less. In such cases the law provides for release to be on the Saturday if the automatic release date falls on a weekend or Bank Holiday.
Where appropriate, offenders may be released on temporary licence (ROTL) in the run up to their release to facilitate appointments for resettlement purposes and the Probation Service and Community Rehabilitation Companies provide support for offenders who are released on licence.