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<p> </p><p> </p><p>Temporary release can be a valuable tool in the resettlement of
prisoners in the community but it must never take place at the expense of public safety.
We conducted a fundamental review of the policy and practice of release on temporary
licence (ROTL) after serious failures last year. We are introducing a system that
enhances the assessment of serious offenders and restricts access to ROTL to cases
where there is a clear, legitimate reason for the release. We have already introduced
some of these changes and have additionally introduced a restriction on prisoners
transferring to open conditions and having ROTL if they have previously absconded
from open prisons; or if they have failed to return or reoffended whilst released
on temporary licence.</p><p>The table below shows the number of distinct, individual
prisoners released on temporary licence from each category of prison in 2013. It is
important to be aware that there is some double counting here, ie where a prisoner
has transferred between prisons during the year and had ROTL from more than one category
of prison. In fact a total of 11, 211 individuals were temporarily released at some
point in 2013.</p><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="4"><p><strong>Table 1: Number of
prisoners<sup>(1) </sup>released on temporary licence by prison category<sup>(2)</sup>,
2013</strong></p></td><td> </td><td> </td><td> </td><td> </td><td> </td></tr><tr><td>
</td><td> </td><td> </td><td> </td><td> </td><td> </td><td> </td><td> </td><td> </td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Prison
category</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Number of prisoners</strong></p></td><td>
</td><td> </td><td> </td><td> </td><td> </td><td> </td><td> </td></tr><tr><td><p>Category
A</p></td><td><p>0</p></td><td> </td><td> </td><td> </td><td> </td><td> </td><td>
</td><td> </td></tr><tr><td><p>Category B</p></td><td><p>1*</p></td><td> </td><td>
</td><td> </td><td> </td><td> </td><td> </td><td> </td></tr><tr><td><p>Category C</p></td><td><p>2,604</p></td><td>
</td><td> </td><td> </td><td> </td><td> </td><td> </td><td> </td></tr><tr><td><p>Category
D</p></td><td><p>7,177</p></td><td> </td><td> </td><td> </td><td> </td><td> </td><td>
</td><td> </td></tr><tr><td> </td><td> </td><td> </td><td> </td><td> </td><td> </td><td>
</td><td> </td><td> </td></tr><tr><td><p>Other prisons<sup>(3)</sup></p></td><td><p>1,914</p></td><td>
</td><td> </td><td> </td><td> </td><td> </td><td> </td><td> </td></tr><tr><td> </td><td>
</td><td> </td><td> </td><td> </td><td> </td><td> </td><td> </td><td> </td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>All
prisons</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>11,696</strong></p></td><td> </td><td> </td><td>
</td><td> </td><td> </td><td> </td><td> </td></tr><tr><td><p>*this was a category
D prisoner, ie suitable for open conditions.</p><p> </p></td><td> </td><td> </td><td>
</td><td> </td><td> </td><td> </td><td> </td><td> </td></tr><tr><td colspan="9"><p>(1)
Where a prisoner has been transferred to a different category of prison during the
calendar year, they have been counted once under both categories.</p></td></tr><tr><td>
</td><td> </td><td> </td><td> </td><td> </td><td> </td><td> </td><td> </td><td> </td></tr><tr><td
colspan="4" rowspan="3"><p>(2) Prisons have been categorised by their predominant
function as at January 2014. Some prisons will have a dual function, but will only
be counted under their predominant one. For example, some category A prisons also
have a local function - these prisons are counted under the "category A"
heading.</p></td><td> </td><td> </td><td> </td><td> </td><td> </td></tr><tr><td> </td><td>
</td><td> </td><td> </td><td> </td></tr><tr><td> </td><td> </td><td> </td><td> </td><td>
</td></tr><tr><td> </td><td> </td><td> </td><td> </td><td> </td><td> </td><td> </td><td>
</td><td> </td></tr><tr><td colspan="6"><p>(3) Other prisons includes those prisons
with a predominant function of YOI, Female prison, Local prison or NOMS IRC.</p></td><td>
</td><td> </td><td> </td></tr></tbody></table>
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