Sections 69, 70 and 71 section 3 of the Human Rights Act 1998 (HRA) in relation to Chapter 2 of Part 2 of the 1997 Act, Chapter 6 of Part 12 of the 2003 Act, section 128 of LASPO, and all secondary legislation made under these provisions (‘the release legislation’). These provisions span the legislative framework in England and Wales relating to release, licences, supervision, and recall of indeterminate and determinate sentenced offenders.
	Section 3 of the HRA requires primary and secondary legislation to be read and given effect to in a way that is compatible with the Convention rights, "so far as it is possible to do so".
	When operated by the courts, section 3 requires them to go further than they usually would when interpreting legislation. This has required, at times, the courts to depart from the unambiguous meaning of the legislation. It has also required the courts to adopt interpretations of legislation which depart from the intention of Parliament when that legislation was passed – see, eg, Ghaidan v Godin-Mendoza [2004] UKHL 30, para 31).
	Further, the requirement in section 3 is not merely for courts. Anyone, including public authorities, applying legislation has a duty under section 3 to interpret it in a compatible way.
	By removing this duty in respect of the release legislation, it ensures that, should the courts – or others – find these provisions incompatible, they will apply the section as it is intended to be applied, and not use section 3 to alter the interpretation. In such cases, declarations of incompatibility under section 4 HRA will be available.
Part 4: Prisoners Application of Convention rights Section 71: Section 3 of the Human Rights Act 1998: powers to change release test