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<p>The Government values the work of the Prison Reform Trust and, specifically, the
ongoing dialogue with the Trust as to how best to support those serving the sentence
of Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP), whether in prison or in the community.</p><p>
</p><p>The Government and officials acknowledge that recalling any offender to custody
involves some disruption. However, we have not identified cases of “unnecessary” recalls
of offenders subject to IPP licences. HM Chief Inspector of Probation found in a thematic
review of the Probation Service’s culture and practice on recall, published on 10
November last year, that offender managers are considering, properly, public protection
when deciding how to respond to evidence that offenders have breached their licence
conditions in such a way as to indicate escalating risk. Thus, where an offender on
an IPP licence is recalled to custody, it is because the Probation Service has concluded
that the offender’s risk is now too high for it to be managed effectively in the community,
even with the imposition of additional licence conditions.</p><p> </p><p>However,
offender managers must always consider whether there are safe alternatives to recall
when responding to breaches of licence conditions and evidence of increased risk.
Additionally, HM Prison and Probation Service is working to improve the quality and
timeliness of its risk assessments following recall, so that the Parole Board may
in some cases safely direct the re-release of recalled offenders on an IPP licence
earlier than is currently the case.</p>
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