The Counter-Terrorism and Sentencing Bill

In the UK, many people who are sentenced to a set period of time in prison will be automatically released halfway through but will have certain conditions imposed (such as curfews) for the rest of the sentence length. However, in 2020, the UK Government decided to introduce a new law to stop this applying to people convicted of terrorism. People who were already in prison when the law passed would not be given any extra time on their sentence, but they would not be eligible for release until at least two-thirds of the way through. The Secretary of State for Justice said this would not breach Article 7 because it would not affect the punishment people had been given, only the way it was enforced. The European Court of Human Rights supported this decision and the law was passed in April 2021.