The Government has published the Prison (Amendment) Bill 2026, introducing new measures to ensure offenders convicted of serious sexual offences spend a longer time in prison before being considered for release, strengthening safeguards for public protection.

The Government has chosen to deal with this through the parole system rather than sentencing following extensive consultation, including with the local judiciary. The Gibraltar courts are closely aligned with the United Kingdom’s established sentencing approach. Judges rely on well-developed UK sentencing guidelines and extensive case law from England and Wales, applied by both sentencing and appeal courts in Gibraltar.

The Government was advised that creating a separate Gibraltar-specific set of sentencing guidelines for this category of offences would would be complex, resource-intensive, and could lead to increased legal uncertainty and a higher number of appeals. This approach was therefore not recommended to the Government. The approach adopted in the Bill sought to avoid these risks.

Instead the proposed legislation addresses the issue of early release by requiring individuals convicted of specified sexual offences to serve a greater proportion of their sentence in custody before becoming eligible to be considered for release on licence.

Minister for Justice, Nigel Feetham KC MP, said: “The reforms would significantly strengthen the law by extending the time served in custody and also reinforcing that release can only be considered where continued detention is no longer necessary for public protection and the risk of reoffending is minimal. Importantly, eligibility for parole does not mean that offenders will be released on parole. Any decision to grant parole would remain subject to a strict public protection test.”