Licence Issued on Release
- A Release Licence is issued upon release to all prisoners serving a determinate sentence of imprisonment, or a sentence of imprisonment for life or preventive detention, or home detention, except prisoners released from a short-term sentence, if on release, the offender is not subject to any release conditions.
- The correct Release Licence form is used and all parts of the form are checked for accuracy.
Conditions on Release of Offender
Short- term Sentence
- Where a court sentences an offender to a term of imprisonment of 12 months or less, it may impose the standard conditions and may impose any special conditions.
- Where the court sentences an offender to a term of imprisonment of more than 12 months but not more than 24 months it must impose the standard conditions and may impose special conditions.
- The court must specify the duration of conditions imposed but no condition may apply in relation to a particular sentence beyond the sentence expiry date.
Release Conditions Applying to Parole
The New Zealand Parole Board must specify in respect of every offender who is released on parole:
- How long the standard release conditions will apply to the offender;
- Whether any special conditions will apply and if so what they are and how long they will last.
Determinate Sentences
If an offender who is released on parole is subject to 1 or more determinate sentences, the Board must impose the standard release conditions for a period of at least 6 months, but it may impose them for any period up to a maximum of 6 months beyond the offender’s statutory release date.
If the Board imposes special conditions on an offender who is released on parole, the special conditions may apply for as long as, but not longer than the standard release conditions apply to the offender.
Indeterminate Sentences
If an offender who is released on Parole is subject to an indeterminate sentence, the Board must impose the standard release conditions on the offender for the rest of the offender’s life.
If the Board imposes special conditions on an offender who is released on parole, the special conditions may apply for as long as the standard release conditions apply to the offender.
Release Conditions Applying to Release at Statutory Release Date
If a prisoner serving a long term sentence is to be released on his or her Statutory Release Date, the New Zealand Parole Board must impose the Standard Release conditions for a period of 6 months from the prisoners Statutory Release Date and may impose any special condition for a period of up to 6 months from the prisoners Statutory Release Date.
Release Conditions for Prisoners Granted Christmas Early Release
- Section 52(5) of the Parole Act 2002 states:
If an offender is released early under subsection (2) or subsection (3) [Christmas early release], the offender, during the period between the date of actual release and his or her statutory release date,—
(a) is subject to any release conditions that will apply on his or her statutory release date as if he or she had been released on his or her statutory release date (but time does not begin to run on any conditions until the offender's statutory release date); and
(b) is liable to recall.
- To meet the requirements of the legislation, the “Condition Length” fields in IOMS may need to be manually modified by Receiving Officers to ensure that the date that conditions cease to apply is correct. For example, if a prisoner is subject to six months conditions then the date that these conditions cease to apply is six months from the prisoner’s SRD not six months from their date of actual release (i.e. if the actual date of release is 10 days earlier than the SRD, then 10 days should be added to the condition length).
- It is important that managers and staff completing a release, for prisoners granted Christmas early release, ensure that the date release conditions cease to apply is in accordance with section 52(5) of the Parole Act 2002.
Recall
Liability to be recalled
Recall where a prisoner is being released from a determinate sentence:
- Imposed before 1/9/93 - the prisoner is liable for recall (and if recalled can be held) only up to the date that applied at the time (that is, the old remission date).
- Imposed on or after 1/9/93 - the prisoner is liable for recall until 3 months prior to their sentence expiry date. Where a prisoner will not be able to be recalled because the date 3 months prior to their SED has passed, the Recall to Prison section of the Release Licence should be deleted or marked “not applicable”.
- Imposed on or after 30 June 2002 – the prisoner is liable to be recalled up to his or her Statutory Release Date.
