There is confusion amongst several agencies regarding the practice of compassionate bail for remand prisoners to present to the Northern Ireland Housing Executive (NIHE) to register for a property to be released to – after a PSNI officer told a court he had seen an email stating the “process should not be happening”.
The issue first began to emerge just under two years ago and in May 2022 NIHE was asked if there was any new or existing policy for remand prisoners seeking compassionate bail in order to register as homeless and obtain a bail address.
A spokesperson replied: “There has been no change in our policy. We do not provide accommodation for remand prisoners seeking bail. We do, however, have a duty to provide accommodation to those presenting to us as homeless under the terms of the Housing (NI) order 1988.”
Despite this the practice not only continued, it became more frequent.
That was until last month when a judge refused to grant compassionate bail on these terms.
A police officer under oath referred to a communication from NIHE which “states very clearly this process should not be happening and they will not provide bail addresses to persons on remand.”
The defence countered this saying: “We’ve had a number of applications in other courts for defendants and they have been granted. I’m not sure where the constable is speaking from on this. This is an application to release the defendant from prison from 9am-5pm to present himself to the Housing Executive.”
On this occasion, the judge said: “I’m not minded to grant that.”
Following that, the PSNI, NIHE and Office of the Lady Chief Justice (OLCJ) were each asked for their respective positions around this point – all of which appeared to completely overlook the actual enquiry.
Each was asked if they have a position on the practice of remanded prisoners making compassionate bail applications to attend with NIHE in person to attempt to obtain an address for release on bail.
A PSNI spokesperson replied: “Each application for bail is considered on its own merits and on a case-by-case basis by police. Decisions in respect of bail are a matter for the Judge hearing the application.”
This didn’t answer the question as to the officer’s comment in court so the enquiry was sent back setting this out, but there was no further reply.
Meanwhile an OLCJ spokesperson likewise seemingly misconstrued the enquiry stating: “Bail is a matter for the individual judge hearing the application. Although this office is not in a position to comment on judicial decisions in individual cases we can advise that, in general terms, the courts are required to apply the law governing bail and will hear all the arguments for and against, taking account of all relevant factors before arriving at a considered decision.”
The response went on to set out the presumption in favour of bail, conditions which could be imposed to manage risk and the consequences of these being breached.
This too was sent back stressing it did not answer the specific question of the position around compassionate bail under the stated circumstances and pointing out some judges are now expressing concerns, which in turn is leading to judicial inconsistency.
The question remained what, if any position OLCJ holds on this practice and is guidance to be issued to the judiciary in respect of same, if only to ensure equality and parity across courts?
There has been no further reply.
Initially, the Housing Executive said: “As applications for bail are decided by the courts we won’t be making any comment on this.”
It was likewise pointed out the enquiry was around the position of NIHE – as disclosed in court by police – stating the practice should not be happening, based on an email to that effect sent to PSNI.
Following several further clarifications, a spokesperson provided a verbatim response to that of 2022, saying: “There has been no change in our policy. We do not provide accommodation for remand prisoners seeking bail. We do, however, have a duty to provide accommodation to those presenting to us as homeless under the terms of the Housing (NI) Order 1988.”
When it was pointed out this was the same response as before yet the practice was continuing, NIHE said there would be no further comment.
The email from NIHE to PSNI had already been requested through Freedom of Information and after several additional clarifications NIHE replied: “Given the very limited detail within the request, and the volume of material issued by the Housing Executive, it is impossible to determine or source any specific/individual communication which may be being referred to without more explicit context. In this regard, it may therefore be more appropriate to address the request to the PSNI. This concludes our response.”
The PSNI has yet to respond.
As matters stand there remains no actual position by any agency involved and the email as disclosed by police under oath to date cannot be found.
