The decision of the United Kingdom High Court to 'call time' on the cosy relationship between the UK government and the Parole Board has implications for other jurisdictions not least the Isle of Man.
The UK government moved swiftly today to minimise the damage after the High Court ruled that Government's arrangements for the Parole Board "do not sufficiently demonstrate its objective independence". The unprecedented ruling has now been stayed while Jack Straw, Secretary of State for Justice, attempts to overturn it in the Court of Appeal. If Straw's appeal fails, the UK Government faces the task of having to restructure the Parole Board system. In any case the standing and credibility of the body is probably mortally damaged.
Meanwhile the machinations surrounding the Parole system in the UK inevitably focus attention on what is happening off-shore. in the Isle of Man the Parole Board and its systems of operation are a 'closed(and unhealthily secret) book'.
No one knows who the members of the Parole Board are. Their deliberations are carried out in secret and who they are accountable to is as big a mystery as who selects and appoints them in the first place.
The rotten system in the UK is now exposed and it is also past time that the Parole system in Mann was subject to equal scrutiny. In an age of democratic accountability the Manx parole system is overdue for social audit.
J B Moffatt Director of Information Celtic League
07/09/07
■