I propose to take Questions Nos. 605 and 606 together.
A review of sentence calculations and procedures was undertaken throughout the prison estate at the end of January 2021 following the early release of a prisoner from Midlands Prison in December 2020. The purpose of the review was to provide assurance on the accuracy of sentence calculation for those in custody. In tandem with the review, an overarching sentence calculation policy was developed by the Prison Service and has been circulated to staff throughout the prison estate.
Between February and July 2021, a dedicated project team carried out audits of prison files and sentence calculations of approximately 4,000 prisoners. This review identified 48 sentence errors across the prison estate. These were re-calculated and resulted in the sentences of 25 prisoners being decreased in length, while a further 23 individuals had their sentence length increased.
The reasons for inaccurate sentence calculations included; erroneous start dates where a prisoner had multiple warrants, incorrect linking of consecutive and concurrent warrants, warrants not recorded after appeals and misinterpretation of warrants.
In July 2021, a further review took place of all prisoners who had credit days applied to their sentence in respect of time spent on remand and this resulted in a further 77 prisoners having their sentence increased and 6 having their sentence length decreased.
On foot of one such instance, in October 2021, a prisoner lodged a legal challenge in the High Court, under Article 40 of the Constitution to his continued detention. While the application was unsuccessful, the High Court decision was overturned in the Court of Appeal and the individual was released from custody.
Following this, all files impacted by the judgment were re-examined and where necessary sentences were re-calculated and the Prison Service Sentence Calculation policy was also amended to give effect to the judgment.
I can advise the Deputy that, in order to provide further assurance and to support and validate the internal review carried out by the Prison Service, it is proposed to commence an external review of the policies, processes and procedures in operation for the calculation of prisoner sentences by a suitably qualified person with detailed knowledge of sentence calculation.
