THE MAJORITY of recommendations made by the Parole Board last year in cases of prisoners serving long sentences were accepted, according to the board’s latest annual report.
The board advises the Minister for Justice on the administration of long-term prison sentences for prisoners serving sentences longer than eight years. Minister for Justice Alan Shatter published the board’s report for 2010 yesterday.
The board reviewed the cases of 81 prisoners last year, with recommendations made to the Minister in 79 of those.
In some 72 cases, the recommendations of the board were accepted in full. In four cases, the Minister accepted the recommendations in part. The Minister rejected the board’s recommendations in just one case and noted them in another.
In one case, the prisoner had been released on remission prior to a decision being taken.
A total of 58 prisoners were interviewed by the board.
Precise details of the recommendations made and accepted are not outlined in the report. However, it is known that one of the most recent high-profile cases dealt with by the board was that of convicted murderer Malcolm Macarthur. Mr Shatter accepted a recommendation by the board for his temporary release with conditions attached to be closely monitored by the Probation Service.
Macarthur (65) was jailed in 1982 for murdering nurse Bridie Gargan in the Phoenix Park. He was also charged with shooting farmer Donal Dunne, who had met him to sell a shotgun, but never faced trial for that offence.
The 2010 annual report indicates some 66 cases were referred to the board for review in 2010, a fifth less than the 83 referred the previous year.
Just 48 of those prisoners accepted the board’s invitation to participate in the review process.
Twenty of those were serving sentences for murder, three for manslaughter and nine for sex offences. Twenty-three of the 48 were serving life sentences.
The board noted that while the number of cases referred to it last year dropped, its workload actually increased by 13 per cent because there were 195 cases carried over from 2009.
Its total caseload for last year was 261.