Recalling Conditionally Released Prisoners in England and Wales

Abstract

This article explores the recent enormous increase in the number of prisoners recalled each year to prison in England and Wales: prisoners who had previously been released, either automatically or on the direction of the Parole Board. It explores law and practice, focusing in the analysis on pre-release processes, the process of recall and on the prisoner's journey towards re-release. Having considered the role of the Parole Board and of the executive more generally, the paper concludes that there should be a review of whether ‘sentence review courts’ would work better to encourage offenders to earn their way out of prison and off supervision.