Part 4: Prisoners Public protection decisions Section 58: Public protection decisions: life prisoners
Section 58 amends Chapter 2 of Part 2 of the 1997 Act to clarify the meaning and application of the existing statutory release test in the case of a life sentenced prisoner.
	Subsection (1) of section 28ZA states that this new section applies when a decision-maker (defined in subsection (11) as the Board or the High Court)) making a public protection decision about a life prisoner. Subsection (10) sets out that the test should be applied:
when the Parole Board is considering a life sentence offender for first release;
when the Parole Board is considering re-releasing a life sentence after they have been recalled on licence; and
where the High Court is considering a case that has been referred to it by the Parole Board at the direction of the Secretary of State.
	Subsection (2) of new section 28ZA sets out that a public protection decision is a decision as to whether it is no longer necessary for the protection of the public that a prisoner remains confined. This is the current wording of the public protection test for all life-sentenced offenders releases, no matter if first-instance or on a recall.
	Subsection (3) sets out the new, more specific release test - that, when making a public protection decision, the decision maker must be satisfied that there would be no more than a minimal risk that the prisoner would commit a further offence that would cause serious harm if they were to be released, in order to release the offender.
	Subsection (4) relates to the offences that are presumed to cause serious harm. Schedule 18B, which is inserted into the 2003 Act by subsection (9) of section 59, provides for offences which are considered under the criminal justice regime to be serious in nature, for which offenders must or may currently receive serious or restrictive sentencing and release measures. This list turns a decision-maker’s mind to the types of offences which may be sufficient to meet the threshold of serious harm in the release test, should the decision-maker consider that the offender poses a risk of committing that offence. This deeming provision allows the decision-maker to take the circumstance of the case into account when deciding if commission of the offence would truly cause serious harm. It also does not preclude the decision-maker from considering other offences which may cause serious harm, which are not contained in the list, when determining if the offender should be released or not. New section 237A(13), and Section 59(8), enables this list to be amended by affirmative order.
	Subsection (5) sets out specific criteria that must be taken into account by the decision-maker when assessing the prisoner for release. These provisions do not change in practice how the Board takes public protection decisions, or the Board’s discretion as to the weight to give to each consideration. The list set out express considerations to underpin the question of whether the prisoner meets the threshold in subsection (3), for clarity. Subsection (6) ensures that the decision-maker must in particular have regard for the protection of any victim of the prisoner (restricted to the victim or victims of the offence to which the relevant sentence relates). Subsection (9) enables the decision-maker to take account of matters in addition to those covered in section 28ZA.
	Subsection (12) is a minor, technical provision that glosses new section 28ZA(1) for the release test for recalled life offenders. The test has the same meaning but is cast slightly differently. A ‘gloss’ is a non-textual modification that changes the effect of a provision, without changing the main text.
	Section 58 (3) and (4) ensure that the new meaning and application applying to public protection decisions is referenced and applies in sections 28A and 28B of the 1997 Act, which govern the release of offenders who have committed murder, manslaughter or indecent image offences and have not provided information about their victims.
	Section 58(5) applies the new public protection to the new executive re-release power for Imprisonment for Public Protection sentences set out in in Section 66(5)