Sixty eight prisoners granted Christmas Home Leave

The Northern Ireland Prison Service has granted 68 prisoners Christmas Home Leave. Their periods of temporary release have been granted for varying periods from 24 December 2018 until 2 January 2019. Conditions have been placed on all successful applicants.

The Prison Service received 128 applications for leave across the three prison establishments with 60 people being refused. 21 people have been granted home leave from Magilligan Prison, 38 from Maghaberry Prison and nine from Hydebank Wood College.

All prisoners granted Christmas Home Leave have been the subject of a satisfactory risk assessment and have either successfully completed a home leave programme or undergone periods of unaccompanied testing in the community.

The Prison Service will not be providing information in relation to individual prisoners.

Notes to editors: 

1. Home Leave for prisoners at Christmas is granted in accordance with the Christmas Home Leave Scheme.
2. To be eligible to apply for Christmas Home Leave, Life Sentence Prisoners/Indeterminate Custodial Sentence Prisoners must be within three years of tariff expiry, have had a Parole Commissioners recommendation for pre-release testing in the community and have successfully completed a period of overnight unaccompanied pre-release testing.
3. All Extended Custodial Sentence Prisoners must have served at least 50% of their custodial period, have a Parole Commissioners recommendation for pre-release testing in the community or have reached their Home Leave Eligibility Date (HLED) and have successfully completed a period of overnight unaccompanied pre-release testing or overnight unescorted home leave.
4. All other sentenced prisoners must have been sentenced on or before 31 October 2018, have reached their HLED and have successfully completed an overnight period of unescorted home leave within their current custodial period.
5. Recalled prisoners must have a Parole Commissioners recommendation for pre-release testing in the community and have successfully completed a period of overnight unaccompanied pre-release testing.
6. Remand prisoners are not eligible for Christmas Home Leave.
7. At unlock this morning, 1,364 prisoners were being held in prisons in Northern Ireland.
8. For all media queries, please contact the DoJ Press Office on 028 9052 6444. Out of office hours please contact the Duty Press Officer on 028 9037 8110.

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