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The Long-term Prison Sentences Review Board today (August 10) released its first report to give an overview of the Board's activities since its establishment in 1997. The report covers the period from June 30, 1997 to June 30, 2000.

The Long-term Prison Sentences Review Board is an independent statutory body established pursuant to the Long-term Prison Sentences Review Ordinance which commenced operation on June 30, 1997. The Board is currently chaired by a Justice of Appeal of the Court of Appeal of the High Court, the Hon Mr Justice A Leong. It succeeded the previous advisory body - the Board of Review, Long Term Prison Sentences -- with the aim to further enhance the transparency, efficiency and fairness of the prison sentence review and remission system in Hong Kong.

"With improved procedures as enshrined in the Ordinance, the Long-term Prison Sentences Review Board continues to review the sentences of certain categories of prisoners and make recommendations to the Chief Executive for sentence remission," a Government spokesman said.

The spokesman explained that one of the improved procedures was the conduct of hearings by the Board in the cases of revocation or amendment of conditional release orders and supervision orders, so that prisoners concerned would have the chance to make oral representations to the Board. In addition, by keeping prisoners well informed in the course of sentence reviews and providing them upon request with the reasons of the decisions made at the reviews, the transparency of the operation of the Board was enhanced.

Apart from making recommendations on sentence remission, the statutory Board may order a prisoner serving an indeterminate sentence to be conditionally released under supervision when it considers it appropriate to defer making a recommendation for a determinate sentence. Upon successful completion of the conditional release period, the Board may recommend a determinate sentence. The Board may also order post-release supervision for a prisoner whose indeterminate sentence has been converted to a determinate one.

"The powers conferred to the Board to order conditional release and post-release supervision have ensured that discharged prisoners, where required, are provided with necessary guidance and assistance to help them reintegrate into society as law-abiding citizens, after being incarcerated for a long period of time," the spokesman said.

Cases eligible for regular reviews by the Board include prisoners serving life sentences and long-term sentences (i.e. 10 years or longer), prisoners detained at Executive discretion (i.e. young offenders who were aged below 18 when committing murder), prisoners serving determinate sentences who were under the age of 21 at the date of conviction, and prisoners transferred from overseas who are serving indeterminate sentences or long-term sentences in Hong Kong.

During the three-year reporting period, the Board has conducted reviews on a total of 1,768 cases of prisoners, and has made recommendations for the indeterminate sentences of 16 prisoners to be commuted to determinate ones. These 16 prisoners represent 7.7 per cent of a total of 207 whose indeterminate sentences have been reviewed. The Board has also ordered conditional release for one prisoner and post-release supervision for 10 prisoners.

"We are pleased with the effective statutory operation of the independent Board since its establishment. The Board is an integral part of our penal system which has placed increasing emphasis on the rehabilitation of offenders," the spokesman said.

End/Thursday, August 10, 2000

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