Supervision of conditionally released prisoners

Normally, prisoners serving an unconditional prison sentence are conditionally released for a probationary period before their actual release. This means that you serve a specific proportion of your sentence in prison and the rest of the sentence in freedom either under supervision or without supervision.
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You may be placed under supervision after your conditional release if

  • your remaining sentence term is longer than one year
  • you committed the offence under 21 years old
  • you so request
  • you are placed in probationary liberty under supervision before the actual release and you are committed to pharmacotherapy aimed to prevent new sexual offences
  • you were sentenced for a serious violent offence and your risk of committing a new violent offence is assessed to be high, or
  • you have previously been sentenced for a violent or sexual offence and your risk of committing a new offence is assessed to be high.

The supervision lasts for the probationary period, which can be three years at the most. In practice, the supervision means regular appointments with your supervisor . For justified reasons, your supervisor may propose to end the supervision earlier. The purpose of the supervision appointments is to monitor your life circumstances and support and motivate you to live without crime. Your supervisor can help you, for instance, with matters related to subsistence and housing.

You are reimbursed reasonable travel expenses linked to the supervision appointments if you need to use public transportation.

Conditions of supervision of conditional release

You are obliged to come to the set supervision appointments and follow the conditions determined in the sentence plan . Additionally, you must follow other orders of your supervisor, such as sobriety during supervision appointments.

You must give your supervisor your contact information and other information necessary from the viewpoint of the supervision, such as details of your work, studies and financial situation. and tell your supervisor if the information changes.

If you breach your obligations, you may be issued a caution or a warning. If you miss a supervision appointment and do not tell your supervisor an acceptable reason for your absence, your supervisor may ask the police to bring you in.

If you repeatedly breach the conditions of supervision, your supervisor may notify the prosecutor of your breaches. The court may order 4 to 14 days of your remaining sentence to be enforced for a gross violation of the obligations.

Published 20.7.2022