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Supreme Court dismisses appeal from High Court, and affirms refusal to grant judicial review of the decisions of the Parole Board and the Minister for Justice to refuse to consider a prisoner for parole or temporary release, where he was serving a life sentence for murder but had been transferred to the Central Mental Hospital in 2012 having been diagnosed with schizophrenia, on the grounds that: (a) the legislation that applied to parole or temporary release was not designed to apply to prisoners who had been transferred to the Central Mental Hospital; (b) separate legislation was in place that allowed for temporary release from the Central Mental Hospital; and (c) the position of the prisoner in question did not render his sentence so grossly disproportionate that it amounted to a breach of his human rights.
O'Malley J (nem diss): Mental health - criminal law - transfer of long-term prisoner to Central Mental Hospital (CMH) - whether prisoner entitled to be considered for conditional release - plea of guilty to murder in 2007 - treatment for schizophrenia - detained in CMH since 2012 - reviewed every six months - application for assessment for parole - refusal of Parole Board to consider application while detained in CMH - Minister determined that he could not consider an application for temporary release - Section 2 of the Criminal Justice Act 1960 - Criminal Justice (Temporary Release of Prisoners) Act 2003 - Prisons Act 2007 - temporary release from the CMH - s 1, 1960 Act - Central Criminal Lunatic Asylum (Ireland) Act 1845 - Lunatic Asylums (Ireland) Act 1875 - Trial of Lunatics Act 1883, - Criminal Law (Insanity) Act 2006 - parole - distinction between parole and temporary release - non-statutory nature of parole - remission - prisoners and medical treatment - Section 17(6) of the Criminal Justice Administration Act 1914 - whether parole or remission could be subject to judicial review - discretion of the Minister - whether applicant was 'in prison' - whether rights under Article 3 of EHCR violated - temporary release from CMH provided for in section 14 of the 2006 Act.
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