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Prison (Amendment No.4) (Jersey) Rules 202-:

A formal published “Ministerial Decision” is required as a record of the decision of a Minister (or an Assistant Minister where they have delegated authority) as they exercise their responsibilities and powers.

Ministers are elected by the States Assembly and have legal responsibilities and powers as “corporation sole” under the States of Jersey Law 2005 by virtue of their office and in their areas of responsibility, including entering into agreements, and under any legislation conferring on them powers.

An accurate record of “Ministerial Decisions” is vital to effective governance, including:

  • demonstrating that good governance, and clear lines of accountability and authority, are in place around decisions-making – including the reasons and basis on which a decision is made, and the action required to implement a decision

  • providing a record of decisions and actions that will be available for examination by States Members, and Panels and Committees of the States Assembly; the public, organisations, and the media; and as a historical record and point of reference for the conduct of public affairs

Ministers are individually accountable to the States Assembly, including for the actions of the departments and agencies which discharge their responsibilities.

The Freedom of Information Law (Jersey) Law 2011 is used as a guide when determining what information is be published. While there is a presumption toward publication to support of transparency and accountability, detailed information may not be published if, for example, it would constitute a breach of data protection, or disclosure would prejudice commercial interest.

A decision made on 19 December 2020

Ministerial decision reference: MD-HA-2020-0090

Decision summary title:  Draft Prison (Amendment No. 4) (Jersey) Rules 202-

Decision summary author

Private Secretary

Is the decision summary public or exempt?  

Public

Report title: Draft Prison (Amendment No. 4) (Jersey) Rules 202-

Report author or name of

person giving report

Legislative Drafter  

Is the report public or exempt?

Public

Decision and reason for the decision

The Minister decided to make amendments to the Prison (Jersey) Rules 2007 to enable the temporary release of those serving a sentence of youth detention and to enable the remission of sentences of youth detention. These changes have been made to provide equality for young offenders with adult prisoners in respect of provisions allowing temporary release and remission of sentences.

 

Presently, the Prison Rules make provision for the remission (Rule 63) and temporary release (Rule 64) only of a prisoner “sentenced to imprisonment”. Though the Prison (Jersey) Law 1997 (the “Prison Law”) defines a ‘prisoner’ as including a person sentenced to youth detention (Article 1(1) of the Prison Law), the Criminal Justice (Young Offenders) (Jersey) Law 2014 (the “Young Offenders Law”) provides that that no court may pass a sentence of imprisonment on a person under the age of 21 years (Article 3(1)). The effect of this is that a person under the age of 21 years cannot be sentenced to imprisonment and, as a result, the current remission and temporary release provisions in the Prison Rules cannot apply in the case of a young offender.

 

The practical effect of this is that young offenders and ‘adult’ prisoners (i.e. those over the age of 21) are treated differently, with it being open to the Minister (that authority having been delegated to the Prison Governor) to authorise the remission of sentences of imprisonment or the temporary release of ‘adult’ prisoners. The Minister is seeking to make an amendment to the Prison Rules primarily to address this imbalance in remission and release provision in the Prison Rules.

 

Resource implications:  There are no financial or manpower implications arising from this decision.

Action required: The Minister to sign and seal the Rules. The Private Secretary to return them to the States Greffe immediately.

Signature

 

Position

 

Connétable Len Norman

Minister for Home Affairs

 

 

 

 

Date signed

 

Effective date of the decision

 

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