The number of indeterminate sentenced prisoners held in open prisons in England and Wales, for financial years 2012 - 2014, can be found in table 1.<\/p>
<\/p>
A life sentence is mandatory on conviction for murder. Under a life sentence, and an indeterminate sentence for public protection (IPP), the court determines the minimum period to be served in prison for the purposes of punishment and deterrence. Prisoners serving these indeterminate sentences have no automatic right to be released. If released they are subject to recall for the rest of their life or, in the case of an offender serving an IPP, for at least 10 years. Public protection is the priority and the release of indeterminate sentence prisoners once they have served their minimum term is entirely a matter for the Parole Board.<\/p>
Progression to open conditions is never automatic and only follows a satisfactory assessment of risk, generally involving the independent Parole Board in the case of prisoners serving indeterminate sentences.<\/p>
The Parole Board may recommend such prisoners for open conditions if, for example: they have successfully completed any offending behaviour programmes identified in their sentence plan as essential to the risk reduction process; their behaviour in custody is such that it is considered that a move is appropriate; and their risks are manageable in open conditions.<\/p>
Once allocated to open prison, prisoners continue to be monitored and are returned to closed prison immediately if there are any concerns about their suitability for low security conditions.<\/p>
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Open prisons have been used since 1936, because they are the most effective means of ensuring that prisoners are suitably risk-assessed before they are released into the community under appropriate licence conditions. When a prisoner moves to the less rigid structure of open conditions an assessment can be made in a relatively safe environment of how the prisoner will adapt to increasing responsibility. For many prisoners, in particular those such as life sentence prisoners, who have spent a considerable amount of time in custody; these are essential components for successful reintegration in the community and therefore an important factor in protecting the public.<\/p>"} , "answeringMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/1453", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Andrew Selous"} } , "answeringMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "South West Bedfordshire"} , "answeringMemberPrinted" : {"_value" : "Andrew Selous"} , "attachment" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/79430/answer/attachment/1", "fileName" : {"_value" : "PQ 206954 - table.pdf"} , "title" : "Indeterminate Sentenced Prisoners in open prisons"} , "dateOfAnswer" : {"_value" : "2014-09-04", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "isMinisterialCorrection" : {"_value" : "true", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "previousAnswerVersion" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/79430/answer/previousversion/18219", "answeringMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/1453", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Andrew Selous"} } , "answeringMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "South West Bedfordshire"} , "answeringMemberPrinted" : {"_value" : "Andrew Selous"} } , "questionFirstAnswered" : [{"_value" : "2014-09-04T16:35:02.57Z", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} ], "questionFirstMinisteriallyCorrected" : [{"_value" : "2014-12-04T11:34:33.497Z", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} ]} , "answeringDeptId" : {"_value" : "54"} , "answeringDeptShortName" : {"_value" : "Justice"} , "answeringDeptSortName" : {"_value" : "Justice"} , "date" : {"_value" : "2014-07-22", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "hansardHeading" : {"_value" : "Open Prisons"} , "houseId" : {"_value" : "1"} , "legislature" : [{"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/terms/25259", "prefLabel" : {"_value" : "House of Commons"} } ], "questionText" : "To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many indeterminate sentenced prisoners were held in open prisons in the years ending 31 March (a) 2012, (b) 2013 and (c) 2014.", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "tablingMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/1565", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Sir Philip Davies"} } , "tablingMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Shipley"} , "tablingMemberPrinted" : [{"_value" : "Philip Davies"} ], "uin" : "206954"} , {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/79431", "AnsweringBody" : [{"_value" : "Ministry of Justice"} ], "answer" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/79431/answer", "answerText" : {"_value" : "
<\/ins><\/ins><\/p> <\/ins><\/p> This Government has taken action to end the cautions culture and to make sure serious offenders do not receive penalties seen as soft options. The use of cautions is at its lowest point for thirty years.<\/ins><\/p> We are changing the law to ban simple cautions for all of the indictable only offences - the most serious criminal offences which must be tried in the Crown Court, including rape, manslaughter and robbery. We are also banning simple cautions for possession of a knife or offensive weapon, supplying Class A drugs and a range of sexual offences against children. <\/ins><\/p> Further, we announced proposals in November 2014 for a new out of court disposal framework that would see an end to cautions and warnings and would require offenders to take actions to comply with their disposals. Elements of this new framework are being piloted in Staffordshire, West Yorkshire and Leicestershire before a decision is taken on whether to implement the new framework across England and Wales. <\/ins><\/p> <\/ins><\/p> The Ministry of Justice issues guidance on the process to be followed by the police when they are administering simple cautions for adult offenders. The latest guidance, issued in November 2013 following the Simple Cautions Review, states that the use of a simple caution for indictable-only offences, such as rape, should only be given following authorisation by a senior police officer of at least the rank of Superintendent and the Crown Prosecution Service. These will be cases where there are exceptional circumstances which would mean that it is not in the public interest to prosecute.<\/ins><\/p>