Member

As the noble and learned Lord, Lord Thomas, and the noble Viscount, Lord Hailsham, said, we have to take a measure of risk, but the beauty of this amendment is that it builds in the safeguards so as to mitigate the risk as much as possible. It is not possible to eliminate every possible risk that a released IPP prisoner might commit another crime. It is also impossible to eliminate any risk that a determinate sentence prisoner might commit another crime. Presumably, the Government are terrified about the newspaper headlines if a released IPP prisoner commits another crime. We all fervently hope that that will not happen. It is not possible to say that it would never happen, but the Government cannot continue to incarcerate people unjustly on that basis.