Parole Board talking out their arse, that was the opinion of y'all on the parole board press release 'Denial Of Guilt And The Parole Board', have reproduced a selection of comments from prisoners and ex-prisoners

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Bullshit, tell that to Robert Brown, John Kamara, Patrick Nichols, Reg Dudley, Bob Maynard the list goes on and on. This is nothing more than a public relations exercise, how many more people who are claiming innocence are still behind bars. Will the Parole board open up their records so we can ensure that there is no more innocent people being held over their tariff.

MOJO Scotland

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The press release by the Parole Board falls short of saying that their ultimate decisions are based on prison reports, that is everyone from the foot soldier, probation, wing staff, governors, and the most powerful of all The Prison Psychologist. Each staff member so often mimics what the previous report writer wrote..........so if you're face doesn't fit or you maintain innocence you'll know what I mean. I guess they want to keep clannish favour with each other.

Prison psychologist's seem in the main to be very young, straight out of college with a text book theory to prisoners addressing offending behaviour blanket fashion. Our argument as prisoners is very simple 'What if there is no offending behaviour to address' as hundreds of miscarriages of justice have and continue to prove? Do Prison staff watch the same news and read the same press as the rest of the nation including the prison population? Or are they alien to truth and humanity? What do they all think when an innocent person clears their name and gains their liberty? Please enlighten us!

The Stephen Downings of this world exist solely because of incorrect reports, (wrong diagnosis's from Offending Behaviour Treatment managers), particularly stating that he/she refuses to address their offending behaviour/refuses to undertake treatment programmes/in denial of their offence, etc. It figures that even with so many people walking free after more than a quarter of  a century the prison service, government ministers, prison staff and particularly the prison psychologists just don't get it. As it states in most Home Office correspondence most innocent prisoners and their campaigners have  received 'We must proceed on the basis that the prisoner has been lawfully convicted by the court.' The Court of Appeal should go beyond quashing well over tariff sentences and put the prison report writers who got it so wrong for so long in the spot light. But of course they just move on to the next prisoner who maintains their innocence! No Parole Board we know has gone over the heads of prison reports that state that the prisoner refuses to address his/her offending behaviour, and is in denial. The risk factors which are a barometer to suitability to release would be presented to the Parole Board as too high for release to be a consideration. So you get a knock back.

Let's face it everyone cleared by the Court of Appeal has a prison report that stands as 'in denial' just a second before their conviction is quashed. What happens to these prison reports after a prisoner is cleared, do they go into the Hall of Shame? Are staff carpeted for being in denial of the truth the prisoner aspired to for many many years? These various staff would collectively state they were just doing their job in line with Home Office criteria. In effect the government, and a government who knows and allows all this to happen despite Mrs. Blair being a Human Rights barrister. Is she in denial too? Does she talk to her husband? It shouldn't be too difficult after all isn't he a barrister by profession too?

The prison Service wanted far more than 27 years out of Stephen Downing, which is why so many aged innocent prisoners with their lives in tatters and wasted gain their freedom eventually, not because of the prison report writers and the Parole Board  - far from it! But because of a successful appeal that comes in the majority of cases far too late, with prison damage contaminating most of their lives at liberty. It's offensive institutional bad behaviour which needs to be addressed.

Yours Faithfully

Robert (Lifer Full Sutton)

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When quoting the statistics it would be more comparable if they quote

1. % of prisoner who maintained there innocence

2. % of prisoners who accepted their 'guilt'

That is directly comparable as opposed to the quoted 46% of all prisoners versus 31% who maintained their innocence. They are trying to make the 31% appear nearer to those who accept their 'guilt'

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I'm just printing off a copy of this for my solicitor because it's complete bollocks. I refused to demeen myself by even applying for parole (which because I'm appellant would never have been granted anyway.) Yet even after completing the vicious and unjust sentence imposed upon me, the Parole Board still accepted licence reccomendations put forward at the last minute by a vindictive probation service crank, without any supporting argument being given, and without allowing me the opportunity to make legal reprsentations against these conditions. For more than a month now my solicitor has been trying to get the Parole Board to address this, and all he's done is waste a lot of his time so far (time better spent dealing with the CCRC) and been

given the run-around. Meanwhile I continue to face daily harrassment because of the parole board's head in the sand attitude. If the Parole Board is genuinely "painfully conscious of the psychological pressure often experienced by those who maintain their innocence in prison", and respects our position as claimed, I'd like to see some evidence of it.

Mark Barnsley

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This is complete and other crap( pardon the language)! Prison Officers are constantly putting pressure on prisoners to admit their guilt and show there remorse. If you refuse you are threatened with not getting paroled. My partner is in a VP unit for a crime he didn't commit and he is constantly pressured and threatened with ship-out if he doesn't admit it! And the parole board are no better.

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