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Types of rules you must follow while on probation

If you have a community sentence, or are released from prison under licence or parole, there are rules you must follow.

These could include having to:

• go on a course to help you stop committing crime
• get treatment for an addiction you may have - like drugs
• stay in your home between certain hours

If you have been given a community sentence

If you break the rules of your community sentence - like not attending meetings or committing another crime - you may either:

• receive a warning
• be taken back to court

If you do something serious, like commit another crime, you could go straight to court. You may not just get a fine or a warning - you could:

• get a harder sentence
• get more rules to follow on probation
• be sent to prison

• Community sentences - an overview

If you’re on licence or parole from prison

If you’re on licence or parole from prison when you break the terms of your probation, you can be ‘recalled’. This means you are sent back to prison.

How you find out you are being recalled

The offender manager will either:

• write to you stating you’re being recalled (after getting a final warning)
• arrange for you to be arrested by the police because you have done something (like commit a serious crime), or are a risk to the public

What happens when you go back to prison

When you go back to prison, you get a copy of a report explaining why you have been sent back. You can also see a copy of a report your offender manager has written about you.

Asking to be released again - ‘making representations’

You have the right to ask the Parole Board to release you again - this is called making representations.

You sign a form saying whether or not you want to do this.

You can make representations:

• yourself
• ask a friend or family member to do it
• get a legal adviser to do it

You tell the Parole Board why you think it’s safe for you to be released back into the community. This must be done within two weeks of being told the reasons you were recalled to prison.

The Parole Board looks at your case and decides whether or not you can be released.

Prison staff can explain the process in more detail.

• Find a legal adviser Opens new window

Types of recall arrangement

There are three types of recall arrangement.

Fixed-term recall

A fixed-term recall means you are released 28 days after going back to prison. After you’re released, you go back on licence until the end of your sentence.

You can make representations if you want to. The Parole Board may agree to release you on licence straight away.

Standard recall

A standard recall may mean you stay in prison until the end of your sentence. You can be released earlier only if a Parole Board believes you:

• won’t commit any more crime
• are not a danger to the public

Even if you do not make any representations, your case is sent to the Parole Board after 28 days. It can either:

• release you straight away
• fix a date (within one year) for you to be released on licence

Extended sentences

If you’re on an extended sentence your case is sent to the Parole Board within 14 days of your recall. You are told when the hearing is. The Parole Board decides if, and when you can be released.

The Parole Board looks at your case and can either:

• release you straight away
• fix a date (within one year) for you to be released on licence

You can make representations if you want to.

• How Parole Board hearings work