John GILLIES - 09/11/2016

Parole Hearing


Under section 21(1) of the Parole Act 2002

John GILLIES

Hearing: 9 November 2016 at [Withheld]

Members of the Board:

  • Judge D Mather – Panel Convenor
  • Ms G Hughes
  • Mr R Crotty

Supporters:

  • [Withheld]

DECISION OF THE BOARD

1. Mr Gillies has waived his appearance at this scheduled Parole Board hearing but with no specific reasons given.

2. He is serving a sentence of five years three months for a number of offences of violence.  He has a formidable offending history and has served many Prison sentences.  He has a high RoC*RoI of 0.78657.

3. As yet he has not undertaken any significant offence related treatment while serving this sentence.  The concern has rightly been expressed that he may reach his sentence end date which is 17 August 2017 without any effective rehabilitative interventions.

4. We note that a number of attempts have been made to get him onto the STURP but for various reasons this has not proceeded.  We note that currently Mr Gillies is not showing any interest in that programme.

5. He would like to move to [Withheld]  and make a fresh start there.  There is merit in any plan which increases the prospects of Mr Gillies returning to the community without the negative influence of past criminal associations.  However his request to be transferred to [Withheld] has been declined although we are unclear of the reasons.

6. Clearly risk issues remain and Mr Gillies cannot be considered ready for release on parole at this time.  We do however, encourage the Corrections Department to look at further options for programmes for Mr Gillies both prior to his sentence end date and following his release.  He has limited support in [Withheld] but that may yet be the best option for him.

7. After a long history of offending every effort should be made to reduce the risk of his relapse and re-offending on his release.

8. We schedule him to appear again before the Board in June next year and in any event no later than 30 June 2017.

Judge D Mather
Panel Convenor