Parole means being released from prison with specific conditions.
And to serve part of the sentence under supervision in the community.
Consideration for parole can happen after serving half of the sentence if:
- the person is in prison or a young offenders' institution
- and serving a sentence of 4 years or more
Consideration for parole can also be turned down.
If the Court grants parole then the supervising social worker will explain the conditions that will apply.
Throughcare
The Criminal Justice Social Work Throughcare Service carries out post-custodial supervision of male offenders.
This includes those subject to the orders and licences detailed below and the length of licence being as little as 3 months up to and including for the rest of the person’s life:
- Order for Lifelong Restriction
- Life Licence
- Extended Sentence
- Parole
- Non-Parole
- Supervised Release Order
- Short Term Sex Offender Licence
- Supervision Orders post-custody imposed through the English Legal System
The involvement of the team starts either at the point of a Criminal Justice Social Work report for the High Court or at the point of sentencing. Contact is maintained with the person during their sentence through the Integrated Case Management meetings arranged by the Scottish Prison Service.
Reports are also given to various partner agencies:
- Criminal Justice Social Work reports for the High Court except for women and for those convicted of sexual offences
- Home background reports for the purposes of release on licence to the Parole Board for Scotland
- Home leave reports for the purposes of temporary release from custody to Scottish Prison Service
- Home detention curfew reports for Scottish Prison Service which assess the suitability of a person being released from a custodial sentence subject to Electronic Monitoring
On a regular basis the team are involved in multi-agency working with partner agencies through Multi Agency Public Protection Arrangements (MAPPA), Multi Agency Risk Assessment Conferencing (MARAC) and Multi Agency Tasking and Coordinating (MATAC) meetings.
