Preparing to go to prison

Before serving a sentence

If the court has allowed you to wait for the beginning of your sentence at liberty, a probation office will send you an invitation to a meeting. The invitation includes a preliminary information form. You must fill in the form beforehand and bring it to the meeting.

Your sentence plan will be drawn up in the meeting. The meeting is usually arranged in a probation office, but your hearing can also be arranged via telephone, email or other similar manner.

It is important that you come to the set meeting because it covers important matters concerning your sentence term. You can take part in drawing up the sentence plan, which includes, among other things, an assessment of why you commit offences, how your thinking could be influenced, and which programmes arranged in prison could best support your goals towards a life without crime. During the meeting, you will also discuss in which prison you could be placed and determine the date of reporting to the prison.

You may advance your arrival time in prison by contacting the Client Assessment Unit of the Prison and Probation Service.

You may apply for a postponement of the enforcement of your sentence on medical or social grounds.

Application form and instructions for postponement of enforcement – 1.9.2022 [pdf, 728.7 kt]

Instructions for filling in and sending an application for postponement

1. Download the application form to a computer.
2. Open the downloaded application form on the computer.
3. Fill in the required information.
4. Click the “Send” button at the bottom of the application form.
5. Write your email address in the window that opens. The application form is automatically attached to the email. Attach other required documents to the email.
6. Add the word Lykkäyshakemus (application for postponement) and your first and last name in the subject line of the email.
7. After sending the email, delete the form from the computer especially if you used a shared computer, for instance, in a library.

The application form cannot be sent directly from the website, it has to be downloaded on a computer before sending the information.

Note! The browser you use may affect how the application form is downloaded on the computer.

If you are imposed a conversion sentence for unpaid fines, the Enforcement Authority is responsible for the matters related to the commencement of your sentence.

Placement in a prison

The serving of a prison sentence begins when you arrive in prison from freedom or after your remand imprisonment ends.

You can be placed directly in an open prison if you have been sentenced to unconditional imprisonment for a maximum of two years, undertake to abstain from using intoxicating substances and submit to the substance control, and fulfil the other prerequisites for the placement. The placement is based on the sentence plan drawn up in a probation office or the Client Assessment Unit.

If you are sentenced to unconditional imprisonment, several factors are taken into account when deciding on your placement. They include your place of residence, possibilities to maintain contacts with people close to you, age, gender, state of health, and own wish. In addition, the number of sentences imposed on you and your earlier criminal history influence the placement.

You will not be placed in a prison or prison ward that is more closed than what is required by the order, safety and security of the prison and the security of imprisonment. The sentence plan has a vital role: you will be placed in a prison where you can take part in the activity determined in your sentence plan.

Your various needs, functioning capacity and risk of reoffending that are stated in the sentence plan are taken into consideration in the decision on your placement. In addition, the factors linked to the prison safety and security are taken into account. If you are under 18 years old, you will be placed in a prison or a prison ward where you can be kept separate from adult prisoners.