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You are here: BAILII >> Databases >> England and Wales High Court (Administrative Court) Decisions >> Gibson & Anor v Secretary of State for Justice [2007] EWHC 2670 (Admin) (02 November 2007) URL: http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/Admin/2007/2670.html Cite as: [2007] EWHC 2670 (Admin) |
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QUEEN'S BENCH DIVISION
DIVISIONAL COURT
Royal Courts of Justice Strand London WC2A 2LL |
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B e f o r e :
MR JUSTICE GIBBS
Between:
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(1) GIBSON | ||
(2) KELLY | ||
(3) BAILEY | Claimants | |
v | ||
SECRETARY OF STATE FOR JUSTICE | Defendant |
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Mr H Southey (instructed by Prisoners Advice Service and Langleys) appeared on behalf of the Second and Third Claimants
Mr P Patel (instructed by the Treasury Solicitor) appeared on behalf of the Defendant
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"As soon as a short-term or long-term prisoner who --
(a) has been released on licence under this part; and
(b) has been recalled to prison under section 39(1) or (2) below,
would (but for his release) have served three quarters of his sentence, it shall be the duty of the Secretary of State to release him on licence."
That therefore created a duty to release on licence at the three-quarter stage those who, having been earlier released on licence, had since been recalled under section 39(1) or 39(2). Those last subsections empowered the Secretary of State to revoke a prisoner's licence and to recall him to prison, either on the recommendation of the Parole Board or, in certain circumstances, without such a recommendation.
"Where a prisoner is released on licence under section 33(3) or (3A) above, subsection (1) above shall have effect as if for the reference of three-quarters of his sentence there were substituted a reference to the whole of that sentence."
"The coming into force of --
(a) sections 244 (duty to release prisoners), 246 (power to release prisoners before required to do so), 248 (power to release on compassionate grounds), 249 (duration of licence), and 250 (licence conditions) . . .
(c) the repeal of sections 33, 33A to 38A, 40A to 44, and 46 to 47 and 51 of the 1991 Act; and
(d) the repeal of sections 59 and 60, 99 and 100, 101, 103 to 105 and 121 of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998,
is of no effect in relation to a prisoner serving a sentence of imprisonment imposed in respect of an offence committed before 4th April 2005."
The applicants are, of course, prisoners who come into that particular category. One notes that section 249 of the 2003 Act, dealing with duration of licences, is one of the provisions which is of no effect therefore in relation to these applicants. Paragraph 23 of the Order, in so far as relevant, reads:
"(1) . . . in relation to a prisoner who falls to be released under the provisions of Part 2 of the 1991 Act after 4th April 2005 --
(a) the reference to release on licence in section 254(1) of the 2003 Act (recall of prisoners while on licence) shall be taken to include release on licence under those provisions; and
(b) the reference in sections 37(1) and 44(3) and (4) of the 1991 Act to revocation under section 39 of that Act shall be treated as a reference to revocation under section 254 of the 2003 Act."
" . . . are to be understood as dealing only with matters of definition and procedure of a transitional nature, not with matters of substance affecting prisoners' rights [see paragraph 15]."
There, of course, as Mr Southey emphasises, the House of Lords were seeking to ensure that prisoners' rights were not reduced by some procedural changes. By the same token, Parliament cannot have intended to enlarge those rights by such changes. The changes were not intended to alter the substantive regime applicable to prisoners in the applicants' position.
"[It] would have been better for the draftsman to provide (perhaps in an additional subparagraph) that section 33(3)'s reference to recall under section 39 should be treated as a reference to recall under section 254 (which uses the omnibus expression 'revoke his licence and recall him to prison')."
It is clear to me that that is how Lord Brown interpreted paragraph 23(1)(b). That is the whole point of him saying that it would have been better for the draftsman to have done that, because it would make the position crystal clear. Nonetheless, he ends up with that interpretation and the rest of the House agreed with his judgment. He also went on to emphasise, in what to my mind is a very important passage, in paragraph 43:
"[The] longer one considers the scheme of this part of Schedule 2, the plainer it becomes that paragraph 23 is concerned only with the process of recalling and re-releasing prisoners on licence and not in any way with the duration of their licences and the point at which they become entitled to unconditional release."
That last phrase appears because Stellato was a case concerning an offender whose offence was committed before 30th September 1998 and who therefore was entitled to unconditional release under the original 1991 Act regime at the three-quarter stage. That, however, is of no significance. What is important is his Lordship's emphasis on the fact that paragraph 23 is not concerned with the duration of prisoners' licences. I respectfully agree. One gets a further indication of that from the heading to paragraph 23 itself. It is dealing, as it says, with recall arrangements, not with the duration of a licence.
" . . . the court must be abundantly sure of three matters: (1) the intended purpose of the statute or provision in question; (2) that by inadvertence the draftsman and Parliament failed to give effect to that purpose in the provision in question; and (3) the substance of the provision Parliament would have made, although not necessarily the precise words Parliament would have used, had the error in the Bill been noticed."