The chairman of the Parole Board Gordon Holmes has said he is very concerned at recent media coverage surrounding the release of high profile prisoners.
Mr Holmes was speaking at the publication of the board’s annual report for 2007 today.
“If persons who have served their sentence and are released back to the public are then going to be hounded by the press it is going to make the rehabilitation all the more difficult,” he said.
Mr Holmes gave an example of a case where the Parole Board recommended that a person who had been convicted of killing three soldiers in the Lebanon serve the remainder of his sentence in Northern Ireland where he was from. The prisoner had already served 25 years imprisonment in this country.
“Nonetheless, our press - and unfortunately not just the tabloid press – proceeded to enquire from the relatives of the deceased persons their opinion as to what had been done,” he said.
“If this is going to happen in every case and particularly in high profile cases then the press are going to defeat the rehabilitation process and make it all the more difficult to encourage prisoners to get back into society.”
Mr Holmes said he hoped the new Press Council would "prevent such happenings in the future”.
The Parole Board made recommendations on release and rehabilitation in 73 cases to the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform during 2007.
Mr Holmes said great care and attention was given to each case that came before the Board prior to any decision on parole and recommendation being made to the Minister.
“The board’s primary consideration is the safety of the general public, the message sent to the public by the board’s recommendations and what efforts the prisoner has made towards rehabilitation,” he said.