Crime (Sentences) Act 1997

13 Provisional early release days for remand prisoners

(1) This section applies where an accused is remanded in custody in connection with one or more offences—

(a) which are alleged to have been committed after the commencement of this Chapter; and

(b) in respect of which he would be liable, if convicted, to a life sentence or to imprisonment for a term of more than two months.

(2) For the purpose of enabling early release days to be awarded on a provisional basis, subsections (2) and (3) of section 11 above shall have effect as if—

(a) the accused had been convicted of, or of an offence related to, the offence or any of the offences, and had been sentenced to imprisonment for a term of more than two months and less than three years, on the day on which he was remanded in custody;

(b) any days falling after that day for which he is not remanded in custody were disregarded; and

(c) references in that section to periods of two months were references to periods of 60 days.

(3) Subsections (4) to (6) below shall apply if, and only if, each of the following conditions is fulfilled, namely—

(a) the accused is convicted of, or of an offence related to, the offence or any of the offences;

(b) he is sentenced to imprisonment for a term of more than two months and less than three years; and

(c) a direction is given under section 9 above.

(4) For the purposes of section 11(5) above, any early release days provisionally awarded under subsection (2) above shall be treated as early release days awarded on the day on which the direction under section 9 above is given.

(5) For the purpose of securing that any days for which the accused was remanded in custody are taken into account in determining assessment periods for the purposes of section 11 above, that section shall have effect as if—

(a) the accused had been convicted and sentenced on the day on which he was remanded in custody;

(b) any days which fell before the day on which he was sentenced, and for which he was not remanded in custody, were disregarded; and

(c) references to periods of two months, in their application to periods beginning before that day, were references to periods of 60 days.

(6) If the direction under section 9 above is given in relation to a number of days less than that for which the accused was remanded in custody—

(a) subsection (4) above shall have effect as if the reference to any early release days provisionally awarded under subsection (2) above were a reference to the appropriate proportion of those days (rounded up to the nearest whole day); and

(b) subsection (5) above shall have effect as if the reference to days for which he was not remanded in custody included a reference to the complementary proportion of the days for which he was so remanded (rounded down to the nearest whole day).

(7) Where for any period the accused has been held in police detention, the prescribed person shall assume, for the purposes of section 11(2) and (3) above as modified by subsection (2) above, that during that period—

(a) the prisoner had been in prison; and

(b) his behaviour had attained, but not exceeded, the prescribed minimum standard for the purposes of that section.

(8) In this section—

• “the appropriate proportion” means the proportion which the number of days in relation to which the direction under section 9 above is given bears to the number of days for which the accused was remanded in custody, and “the complementary proportion” shall be construed accordingly;

• “life sentence” has the same meaning as in section 34 below;

• “related”, in relation to an offence, has the same meaning as in section 9 above;

and subsections (2), (9) and (10) of section 9 above shall apply for the purposes of this section as they apply for the purposes of that section.