CHAPTER
5
LIFE
SENTENCE PRISONERS
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Key
points
Population
- There
were over 4,200 inmates serving life sentences
in Prison Service establishments on 30 June
1999. Three quarters of these were convicted
murderers.
- The
vast majority, 96 per cent, of these prisoners
were male.
Receptions
- There
were 477 receptions in 1999. This was a record
high, and continues a rapid increase from
the average of 237 receptions between 1989
and 1994.
Time
served
- The
average time served by life sentence prisoners
first released on life licence has gradually
increased over the last decade from under
12 years in 1989 to nearly 15 years in 1999.
Releases
- The
number of life sentence prisoners first released
on life licence rose from 85 in 1996 to over
120 in 1999.
- Less
than a tenth (9 per cent) of life licensees
released between 1972 and 1994 were reconvicted
of a standard list offence(1) within
2 years.
(1)
The standard list of offences covers all indictable
offences, including triable either way offences,
and a number of the more serious summary offences.
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