Commentary Release and supervision of offenders sentenced to less than 2 years Section 1: Reduction of cases in which prisoners released unconditionally
11.Section 1 amends section 243A of the 2003 Act, which relates to the duty to release offenders serving a fixed-term sentence of less than 12 months unconditionally at the halfway point in their sentence.
12.The amendments mean that the only offenders who will be released unconditionally at the halfway point of the sentence will be offenders serving a custodial sentence of 1 day, offenders serving a custodial sentence of more than 1 day but less than 12 months who are aged under 18 at the halfway point in their sentence, and offenders serving a sentence of less than 12 months imposed for an offence committed before section 1 comes into force. Other offenders serving sentences of more than 1 day and less than 12 months will now be subject to release on licence when they reach the halfway point in their sentence. That means, for example, that an offender sentenced to a custodial sentence of 6 months will be released at three months and spend three months on licence in the community.