Four re-appointments have been made to the Parole Commissioners for Northern Ireland, the Department of Justice has announced.
Mr John O’Neill and Mr Matthew Corkey have been re-appointed as legal commissioners. Dr Christine Kennedy and Dr Jeremy Kenney-Herbert have been re-appointed as psychiatry and psychology commissioners.
The department said the Parole Commissioners for Northern Ireland is an independent body involved in deciding whether offenders eligible for parole are safe to be released back into the community. It said public protection is paramount and risk assessment is central to decisions on potential release.
The re-appointments bring the complement of serving commissioners to 37. Justice Minister Naomi Long thanked the commissioners for their continued commitment and dedication to the role.
Ms Long said the commissioners are experienced people who make independent decisions on the release and recall of all life sentence and public protection sentence prisoners in Northern Ireland. She said they also make decisions on the recall and further release of determinate custodial sentenced prisoners sentenced to 12 months or more.
The Criminal Justice (Northern Ireland) Order 2008 renamed the Life Sentence Review Commissioners as Parole Commissioners and introduced new protection sentences. Commissioners are appointed under Schedule 4 of the 2008 Order.
The department said commissioners serve in a fee-paid capacity and have professional qualifications or experience in legal, medical, criminological and rehabilitative fields. It said the re-appointment process reflected the Commissioner for Public Appointments Northern Ireland Code of Practice, with appointments made on merit.