STATISTICS HIGHLIGHT HUGE PRESSURES ON PAROLE BOARD - HEATH

12.00.00am GMT Mon 29th Oct 2007

David Heath, MP for Somerton and Frome and Liberal Democrat Shadow Justice Secretary, has criticised the Government after figures released by the Parole Board today showed a 58% increase in the number of recall cases.

Commenting David said:

"The massive increase in workload for the Parole Board threatens to overwhelm it and make its job much harder.

Particularly worrying is the big rise in the number of recall cases, which even the Parole Board admits is 'staggering'. This suggests a widespread flouting of parole conditions by prisoners on release.

If ministers want the board to deal with a great many more cases each year then they must provide the resources to enable it to do so, otherwise the safety of the public and the integrity of the criminal justice system are put at risk.

It is staggering that eight out of ten deferments are due to lack of reports or the absence of key witnesses. This only serves to highlight the chaos in the prison system."