The Conditions of Parole
A person sentenced to community service, corrective labour, service restriction of a military person or house arrest may be released on parole where the court considers that full serving of the appointed sentence is no longer necessary for the person's correction. Where the sentence is a term of deprivation of liberty, the initiative lies with the local council of the special penitentiary service, which assesses whether full serving is no longer necessary for correction; a convicted person placed in a special-risk establishment is excluded from this route — an exception reflecting the view that for this category the interest of protecting society outweighs the prospect of correction. The released person may also be freed wholly or partly from serving an accessory sentence.
The Threshold of Actually Served Time
Parole is possible only where the convicted person has actually served: for a less serious crime, at least half of the term of the sentence; for a serious crime, at least two thirds; for a particularly serious crime, at least three quarters. Three quarters is the threshold also for a person previously released on parole whose release was cancelled, and for one whose substituted sentence was cancelled. The actually served term of deprivation of liberty must not be less than six months — an absolute minimum independent of the category of the crime. Special computation rules apply to community service and house arrest: five hours of community service count as one day of deprivation of liberty, and one day of house arrest as one day of deprivation of liberty. Such conversion coefficients ensure the comparability of different kinds of sentence and show the convicted person exactly how much stands to their credit.
Duties, Control and Cancellation
On release on parole the convicted person may be charged with a duty to be performed within the term of the unserved part of the sentence. The conduct of the released person is controlled by the Crime Prevention, Non-Custodial Sentences and Probation Bureau, and in military service by the command of the military unit. Within the unserved term, persistent evasion of the imposed duty entails, upon the submission of the control bodies, cancellation of the release and serving of the unserved part; where a negligent crime is committed, the court decides cancellation or maintenance; an intentional crime entails a new sentence, and a negligent one is punished in the same way where the court cancels the release.
The Procedural Course of the Hearing
The parole hearing is distributed among three figures: the local council assesses the person and presents its conclusion, the court decides the release and the imposed duties, and the probation bureau afterwards exercises control. In the case of a non-custodial sentence the matter lies directly with the court — there the court itself decides whether full serving is no longer necessary for correction. Knowledge of this demarcation corrects the claimant's expectations: the council's conclusion is a mandatory stage only for deprivation of liberty, and to attract it the positive material on the convicted person's conduct, serving and personality must be documented in advance.
Preparing the Request and the Evidence
The decision at a parole hearing depends on the assessment of the convicted person’s personality, and therefore the request package must also contain material on conduct: disciplinary violations acknowledged and undisputed by the punishment, labour participation, involvement in educational and rehabilitation programmes, family and health circumstances. Each of these elements is an object of the council’s assessment, and its documentary form becomes the precondition of the decision. The computational side, too, must be verified in advance: the correspondence of the served term to the category of the offence and the minimum threshold of six months. The continuity and completeness of this material weigh in the council’s assessment as much as the description of the violations.
Frequently Asked Questions
Below we answer the questions most frequently asked on this subject.
How much must be served for parole?
For a less serious crime at least half of the sentence, for a serious crime two thirds, for a particularly serious crime three quarters — and not less than six months of deprivation of liberty.
Who decides in the case of a term sentence?
The court, on the basis of the assessment of the local council of the special penitentiary service.
What happens if a new crime is committed during probation?
An intentional one — cancellation and a new sentence; for a negligent one the court decides cancellation or maintenance.
How is labour punishment computed?
Five hours of community service equal one day of deprivation of liberty.
Who controls the released person?
The Crime Prevention, Non-Custodial Sentences and Probation Bureau; in military service, the command of the military unit.
How We Help on Legal.ge
A parole hearing demands exact computation of the served term, preparation for the council's assessment and correct formulation of the request to the court. On Legal.ge you can consult a criminal-law lawyer who will help you through this process. Submit a request on the site and receive qualified assistance.