In January 2016, Andrew Sperling was invited by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to deliver training to senior civil servants in the Cayman Islands.
The Cayman Islands Government had drafted a new Conditional Release law which was due to be enacted in February 2016.
The new law handed over responsibility for decisions regarding the conditional release on licence of prisoners to a new independent Conditional Release Board (CRB).
Members of the new Board had been recruited and Andrew, along with a UK Parole Board Member, was invited to provide training to the new Board.
The training was attended by representatives from the Office of the Governor of the Cayman Islands, the Prison Service and Department of Rehabilitation.
The format of the training was highly interactive including role-play exercises.
Andrew provided advice in relation to potential legal and administrative pitfalls, including:
essential human rights, due process and common law fairness
how to prepare for and conduct a structured hearing
appropriate questioning techniques including for people with learning or communication difficulties
risk assessment and desistance
setting license conditions
writing decision letters
The training was extremely well-received:
"I thought the CRB training held in January was excellent. [They] are highly knowledgable about the subject and I really appreciated that they were coming from different sides of the process. Their style and approach compliment each other and they work as a very natural team. It was a busy two days, there was lots of material to cover yet it was very well planned and they managed to keep us all on track. It was a very enjoyable mix of presentation and participation. Really enjoyed it and would thoroughly recommend it to any Committees / Boards embarking on the parole process."
Member of the Cayman Islands Conditional Release Board
