My Lords, I shall also speak to Amendment 211 in the name of my noble friend Lord Hodgson of Astley Abbotts. Both these amendments seek to deal with the same mischief: the release of prisoners on a Friday, Saturday, Sunday or bank holiday. I do not think either is perfectly drafted—for instance, mine would not prevent release on the day before a bank holiday.
I am lucky enough to have been able to spend quite a bit of time at Brixton prison, looking at how a well-run prison works. When I was looking at the release process, I saw that the last prisoner released had been released to no fixed abode—NFA—which I was told was not unusual. This generally means that the probation officer tells the prisoner where he will sleep that night. I was not surprised to see this because I was already aware of the NFA problem, and these amendments do not seek to deal with it.
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The relevant problem is that, if a prisoner is released on a Friday or other unpropitious day, he or she is far less likely to be able to properly access the necessary welfare services. I am sure that other noble Lords much more experienced in these matters will explain to the Committee the avoidable disadvantages that the released prisoner will experience. I expect that the Committee will hear that the lack of support at a crucial time could result in reoffending, even before the weekend is over. That cannot be sensible.
My understanding is that there are operational advantages for the Prison Service if prisoners are generally released on a Monday or Tuesday. I can accept that there may be an issue with the desire of judges to announce a sentence of X months, rather than X months and 23 days. For longer sentences, the approach of my noble friend Lord Hodgson may be superior in this respect but, for very short sentences—of a few weeks, say—my approach might be better. These amendments propose a minor tweak that could reduce avoidable reoffending, and I hope that they find favour with the Minister and the Committee.