The cases of 65 prisoners were referred to the Board for review during the 2011 and all were invited to participate in the process. 45 prisoners accepted the invitation while 20 declined. The total caseload for 2011 was 205 – i.e. a combination of new cases and cases at second or subsequent review stage. Significant progress was achieved during the year in bringing older cases to a conclusion. Second or subsequent reviews generally take place on an annual basis in the case of prisoners serving less than 10 years and normally within 2/3 years in other cases. However, fourth, fifth and subsequent reviews may take place on an annual basis in appropriate cases.

During 2011, the Parole Board convened on 11 occasions and reviewed 89 cases. 88 recommendations were submitted to the Minister and the recommendation on one case was deferred until 2012. All prisoners whose cases are being reviewed for the first time are interviewed by two Members of the Board. An interview is not always necessary for prisoners whose cases are being considered for a second or subsequent review but the Board will sometimes consider an interview to be in the prisoner’s interests. During 2011, 49 prisoners whose cases were being reviewed by the Board for the first time were interviewed by Members of the Board. A further 17 were interviewed as part of a second or subsequent review of their case. It is worth noting that the number of interviews conducted by Board Members during the course of 2011 increased by some 12% on 2010. A total of 66 interviews were conducted by Board Members during the year – the highest number since the establishment of the Board.

Recommendations were sent to the Minister for Justice and Equality in 88 of the cases reviewed. The recommendation in one case was deferred pending further enquiries. There was no decision by the Minister in one case because the prisoner was released on remission prior to completion of the process. The recommendations in 85 cases were accepted in full by the Minister and there were no recommendations that were not accepted. One case was accepted conditionally or in part by the Minister. At the end of the year there was one decision still pending. However, due to developments on the case in early 2012 it was decided to put the recommendation on hold until the end of 2012.

Cases in which an invitation to participate was accepted by year (page 13)
Drug offences: 2007- 4 cases; 2008- 3 cases; 2009- 10 cases; 2010- 1 case; 2011- 5 cases