Who is a life sentence prisoner?

When a judge passes a life sentence it means that the offender will be subject to the sentence for the rest of their life. This is because once the prisoner has completed his tariff (the minimum period served before being eligible for parole) and granted release by a parole board the prisoner will be subject to stringent licence conditions usually for his/her life.

There are three different forms of life sentence; mandatory, discretionary and automatic. The application of each sentence is dependent upon age related variants.  Parliament has specified that any person found guilty of murder must receive a mandatory life sentence for their crime. Furthermore, there are certain crimes whereby a life sentence shall be discretionary depending on the severity of the crime and the level of risk posed by the offender.

There shall be an opportunity to appeal any sentence or conviction if a prisoner wishes to do so and our legal representatives believe there are grounds to do so.

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