Number and duration of prison leaves (10/004/2018)

Regulation Issued by the Criminal Sanctions Agency, record no. 10/004/2018,
18 December 2018

Legal basis: Chapter 14, section 12 of the Imprisonment Act

In force: From 1 January 2019 until further notice

Repeals: Regulation on the number and length of permissions of leave 4/004/2016

For: Criminal Sanctions Agency

Number of prison leaves

Under chapter 14, section 7 of the Imprisonment Act, prison leave of at most three days per each two-month period may be granted on the basis of the length of the term of sentence (a prison leave quota).

The duration of the prison leave periods is calculated based on the calendar periods. The first two-month prison leave period starts on the day when, under chapter 14, section 3 of the Imprisonment Act, a prisoner may be granted a prison leave on the basis of the length of the term of sentence at the earliest (L-time). If, in accordance with chapter 14, section 3, subsection 3 of the Imprisonment Act, a prisoner is granted a prison leave earlier than that, the first prison leave period begins on the date determined in the decision on the matter.

The prison leave period ends on the day the number of which corresponds to the date before the date when the calculation began. If the month in question does not have the corresponding date when the calculation ends, the prison leave period ends on the last day of that month. The next prison leave period starts on the day following the previous prison leave period.

Examples:

If the prison leave period starts on 1 January 2017, the period ends on 28 February 2017. The next period starts on 1 March 2017 and ends on 30 April 2017.

If the prison leave period starts on 15 January 2017, the period ends on 14 March 2017.

If the prison leave period starts on 31 July 2017, the period ends on 30 September 2017.

Despite the length of the period, the last prison leave period entitles to at most three days of prison leave.

If the L-time is postponed to a date after the current prison leave period due to a revision of the term of sentence, the new prison leave period begins from the new L-time. The unused prison leave days of the old prison leave period cannot be granted after the change. However, a granted prison leave will not be revoked unless otherwise provided in chapter 14, section 9 of the Imprisonment Act. If a prisoner has already used the prison leave days of the old period, the used prison leave days are not deducted from the prison leave days of the new period.

If the L-time is changed within the current prison leave period due to a revision of the term of sentence, that change does not affect the prison leave period. Changes that advance the L-time to a time before the current prison leave period do not affect the prison leave period.

A prison leave granted based on chapter 14, sections 4, 5 and 6 of the Imprisonment Act is not deducted from the prison leave quota.

Duration of prison of leave

A prison leave is granted as full days or hours, or as full days and hours. It may also be granted for the duration of an event and, hence, the leave may be set a maximum duration.

If a prison leave lasts at most 12 hours, half a day is deducted from the prison leave quota. If a prison leave lasts over 12 hours but at most 24 hours, a full day is deducted from the prison leave quota. Correspondingly, if a prison leave lasts over 24 hours, the duration of the used prison leave is rounded up to the nearest half or full day.

If the prisoner returns to prison before the return time determined in the prison leave, the duration of the prison leave is calculated based on the actual duration of the leave.

Director General of the Criminal Sanctions Agency
Esa Vesterbacka

Lawyer
Jani Kotoaro