As I indicated to you in a news release of 28 May 2007 it is my intention to provide further information on the role of the Prisoners Review Board and the parole process.
What is parole?
In a recent address which I gave to a group of law students, I suggested that although it is one of those concepts you hear about all the time, it is in fact something that little is known about.
Even after many years as a magistrate and judge I would sentence someone to a term of imprisonment making them eligible for parole but did not fully appreciate how the parole process worked.
Parole is in fact a very important part of the sentencing process and therefore a very important part of the criminal law.
As members of the community it is important that we understand something about parole, how it works in this state and what part it plays in the sentencing process.
Parole as part of the sentencing process, which operates so that prisoners released on parole can serve part of their sentence in the community, is of vital importance to our community. It is considered an effective way of integrating prisoners back into the community and trying to ensure they don’t re-offend.
There has been a system of parole in this state and a parole Board since 1964.Parole Boards in fact exist in all states of Australia; just as the sentencing process differs from state to state so does the parole process differ.
Parole however is not actually new; if you go back hundreds of years the Monarch always had the power to release someone on a royal pardon. It was also something you could purchase. You could buy your way out of prison and you could certainly buy your way into a more comfortable term of imprisonment.
When Governor Phillip arrived with the first fleet he came out with the first of many thousands of convicts. The vast majority of these convicts became our first parolees. They were released on conditional pardons being described as "ticket of leave" men.
Prisoners 'tickets of leave' set out the conditions of release then, much as do parole orders release conditions today.
People often forget that in Australia parole has been a part of the history and the development of Australia as a nation since the very beginning. Of course what we do today is controlled by a legislative framework.
In Western Australia the Sentencing Act allows for a prisoner as part of their sentence to be made eligible for parole. Eligibility in itself does not mean the automatic right to be released on parole. Parole is a privilege not a right.
If a prisoner establishes that they have earned that privilege, the Board can grant release on parole and can determine to what extent that release will subject the prisoner to supervision in the community and the type of conditions that they have to meet during their parole term.
In basic terms therefore, parole can best be described as the conditional release of selected prisoners who have already served part of their sentence, into the community under the supervision of a community corrections officer.
Judge V French
Chairman
Prisoners Review Board
20/06/2007
