Hong Kong Ordinances

LONG-TERM PRISON SENTENCES REVIEW ORDINANCE - SECT 13

Pre-requisites for review of certain sentences

(Past version on 30/06/1997).

(1) This section applies-

   (a)  in the case of the sentence of a prisoner who is serving a
        discretionary life sentence, mandatory life sentence in respect of the
        conviction of murder committed when the prisoner was under 18 years of
        age or is detained at Executive discretion-to the review of that
        sentence that is required to be conducted as soon as practicable after
        the day that is 6 months before the date on which the minimum term
        specified for the sentence ends and to each subsequent review of that
        sentence that the Board is required to conduct under this Ordinance;
        and (Amended 6 of 1998 s. 4)

   (b)  in the case of any other kind of sentence reviewable by the Board
        under this Ordinance-to the review or to specified reviews of that
        kind of sentence, but only in so far as a regulation made for the
        purposes of this section so provides.

(2) The Board must ensure that, not less than 14 days before the date on which
a review to which this section applies is to begin, the prisoner concerned has
been provided with a copy of all relevant material to be considered by the
Board in connection with the review.

(3) Despite subsection (2), the Board may decline to provide the prisoner with
a copy of material the disclosure of which would be reasonably likely-

   (a)  to jeopardise the health or safety of any person; or

   (b)  to jeopardise the security of any detention facility; or

   (c)  to prejudice the conduct of any lawful investigation into any offence.

(4) If, in accordance with subsection (3), the Board declines to provide a
copy of particular material, it must nevertheless provide such information
concerning the material as may reasonably be disclosed to the prisoner, having
regard to the factors specified in paragraphs (a) to (c) of that subsection.
Subsection (2) applies to the provision of that information in the same way as
it applies to the provision of a copy of relevant material.

(5) Before providing a copy of material, or information, in accordance with
this section, the Board must invite the prisoner to indicate, within a
specified period, which of the official languages is the prisoner's preferred
language for the purposes of this section. If the prisoner indicates a
preferred language within the specified period, the Board must ensure that the
copy or information is provided in that language. If the prisoner does not
indicate a preferred language within the specified period, the Board must
ensure that the copy or information is provided in such of those languages as,
in the opinion of the Board, the prisoner is capable of understanding.

(6) The Board may conduct a review of sentence to which this section applies
even though a copy of material, or information, required to be provided under
this section was provided to the prisoner less than 14 days before the date of
the review, but only if good cause is shown as to why the copy or the
information could not have been provided before the beginning of that period.