Corrections and Conditional Release Act (S.C. 1992, c. 20)

Marginal note:Conditions for authorization

• 116 (1) The Board may authorize the unescorted temporary absence of an offender referred to in paragraph 107(1)(e) where, in the opinion of the Board,

  • (a) the offender will not, by reoffending, present an undue risk to society during the absence;

  • (b) it is desirable for the offender to be absent from the penitentiary for medical, administrative, community service, family contact, including parental responsibilities, personal development for rehabilitative purposes or compassionate reasons;

  • (c) the offender’s behaviour while under sentence does not preclude authorizing the absence; and

  • (d) a structured plan for the absence has been prepared.

• Marginal note:Idem

  (2) The Commissioner or the institutional head may authorize the unescorted temporary absence of an offender, other than an offender referred to in paragraph 107(1)(e), where, in the opinion of the Commissioner or the institutional head, as the case may be, the criteria set out in paragraphs (1)(a) to (d) are met.

• Marginal note:Medical reasons

  (3) An unescorted temporary absence for medical reasons may be authorized for an unlimited period.

• Marginal note:Personal development or community service

  (4) Subject to subsection (6), an unescorted temporary absence for reasons of community service or personal development may be authorized for a maximum of fifteen days, at the rate of not more than three times a year for an offender classified by the Service as a medium security offender and not more than four times a year for an offender classified as a minimum security offender.

• Marginal note:Intervals

  (5) An unescorted temporary absence authorized for reasons referred to in subsection (4) must be followed by a period of custody of at least seven days before the next such absence.

• Marginal note:Exception

  (6) An unescorted temporary absence for purposes of a specific personal development program may be authorized for a maximum of sixty days and may be renewed, for periods of up to sixty days each, for the purposes of the program.

• Marginal note:Absences for other reasons

  (7) Unescorted temporary absences for reasons other than those referred to in subsection (3) or (4) may be authorized for a maximum total of forty-eight hours per month for an offender classified by the Service as a medium security offender, and for a maximum total of seventy-two hours per month for an offender classified as a minimum security offender.

• Marginal note:Regulations

  (8) The circumstances and manner in which, and the time at which, an application for an unescorted temporary absence must be made shall be prescribed by the regulations.

• Marginal note:Travel time

  (9) In addition to the period authorized for the purposes of an unescorted temporary absence, an offender may be granted the time necessary to travel to and from the place where the absence is authorized to be spent.

• Marginal note:Cancellation of absence

  (10) The Board, the Commissioner or the institutional head, whichever authorized a particular unescorted temporary absence of an offender, may cancel that absence, either before or after its commencement,

  • (a) where the cancellation is considered necessary and reasonable to prevent a breach of a condition of the absence or where such a breach has occurred;

  • (b) where the grounds for granting the absence have changed or no longer exist; or

  • (c) after a review of the offender’s case based on information that could not reasonably have been provided when the absence was authorized.

Marginal note:Delegation to Commissioner

• 117 (1) The Board may confer on the Commissioner or the institutional head, for such period and subject to such conditions as it specifies, any of its powers under section 116 in respect of any class of offenders or class of absences.

• Marginal note:Delegation to provincial hospital

  (2) Where, pursuant to an agreement under paragraph 16(1)(a), an offender referred to in paragraph 107(1)(e) or subsection 116(2) has been admitted to a hospital operated by a provincial government in which the liberty of persons is normally subject to restrictions, the Board, the Commissioner or the institutional head, as the case may be, may confer on the person in charge of the hospital, for such period and subject to such conditions as they specify, any of their respective powers under section 116 in relation to that offender.

• Marginal note:Suspension by institutional head

  (3) Where the Board has not authorized the Commissioner or the institutional head under subsection (1) in respect of the offender or in respect of the absence, the institutional head of the penitentiary from which an unescorted temporary absence has been effected may suspend the absence if, in the opinion of the institutional head, the offender’s retention in custody or recommitment to custody is justified in order to protect society, on the basis of information that could not reasonably have been provided to the Board when the absence was authorized.

• Marginal note:Referral of suspension to Board

  (4) An institutional head who suspends the unescorted temporary absence of an offender shall forthwith refer the offender’s case to the Board, and the Board shall decide whether the absence should be cancelled.

Marginal note:Warrant for arrest and recommittal

118 A person who cancels an unescorted temporary absence pursuant to subsection 116(10) or pursuant to a delegation of power under subsection 117(1) or (2), or who suspends an unescorted temporary absence pursuant to subsection 117(3), shall cause a warrant in writing to be issued authorizing the apprehension and recommitment to custody of the offender pursuant to section 137, where the offender is not in custody in a penitentiary or in a hospital referred to in subsection 117(2).

Eligibility for Parole

Marginal note:Time when eligible for day parole

• 119 (1) Subject to section 746.1 of the Criminal Code, subsection 226.1(2) of the National Defence Act and subsection 15(2) of the Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Act, the portion of a sentence that must be served before an offender may be released on day parole is

  • (a) one year, where the offender was, before October 15, 1977, sentenced to preventive detention;

  • (b) where the offender is an offender, other than an offender referred to in paragraph (b.1), who was sentenced to detention in a penitentiary for an indeterminate period, the longer of

    • (i) the period required to be served by the offender to reach the offender’s full parole eligibility date, determined in accordance with section 761 of the Criminal Code, less three years, and

    • (ii) the period required to be served by the offender to reach the offender’s full parole eligibility date, determined in accordance with subsection 120.2(2), less three years;

  • (b.1) where the offender was sentenced to detention in a penitentiary for an indeterminate period as of the date on which this paragraph comes into force, the longer of

    • (i) three years, and

    • (ii) the period required to be served by the offender to reach the offender’s full parole eligibility date, determined in accordance with subsection 120.2(2), less three years;

  • (c) where the offender is serving a sentence of two years or more, other than a sentence referred to in paragraph (a) or (b), the greater of

    • (i) the portion ending six months before the date on which full parole may be granted, and

    • (ii) six months; or

  • (d) one half of the portion of the sentence that must be served before full parole may be granted, where the offender is serving a sentence of less than two years.

• Marginal note:Time when eligible for day parole

  (1.1) Notwithstanding section 746.1 of the Criminal Code, subsection 226.1(2) of the National Defence Act and subsection 15(2) of the Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Act, an offender described in subsection 746.1(1) or (2) of the Criminal Code or to whom those subsections apply pursuant to subsection 226.1(2) of the National Defence Act or subsection 15(2) of the Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Act, shall not, in the circumstances described in subsection 120.2(2) or (3), be released on day parole until three years before the day that is determined in accordance with subsection 120.2(2) or (3).

• Marginal note:When eligible for day parole — young offender sentenced to life imprisonment

  (1.2) Notwithstanding section 746.1 of the Criminal Code, subsection 226.1(2) of the National Defence Act and subsection 15(2) of the Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Act, in the circumstances described in subsection 120.2(2), the portion of the sentence of an offender described in subsection 746.1(3) of the Criminal Code or to whom that subsection applies pursuant to subsection 226.1(2) of the National Defence Act or subsection 15(2) of the Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Act that must be served before the offender may be released on day parole is the longer of

  • (a) the period that expires when all but one fifth of the period of imprisonment the offender is to serve without eligibility for parole has been served, and

  • (b) the portion of the sentence that must be served before full parole may be granted to the offender, determined in accordance with subsection 120.2(2), less three years.

• Marginal note:Short sentences

  (2) The Board is not required to review the case of an offender who applies for day parole if the offender is serving a sentence of less than six months.

Definition of sentence

119.1 For the purposes of sections 119.2 to 120.3, and unless the context requires otherwise, sentence means a sentence that is not constituted under subsection 139(1).

Marginal note:Youth sentence

119.2 For the purposes of sections 120 to 120.3, the eligibility for parole of a young person in respect of whom a youth sentence is imposed under paragraph 42(2)(n), (o), (q) or (r) of the Youth Criminal Justice Act and who is transferred to a provincial correctional facility for adults or a penitentiary under section 89, 92 or 93 of that Act shall be determined on the basis of the total of the custody and supervision periods of the youth sentence.

Marginal note:Time when eligible for full parole

• 120 (1) Subject to sections 746.1 and 761 of the Criminal Code and to any order made under section 743.6 of that Act, to subsection 226.1(2) of the National Defence Act and to any order made under section 226.2 of that Act, and to subsection 15(2) of the Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Act, an offender is not eligible for full parole until the day on which the offender has served a period of ineligibility of the lesser of one third of the sentence and seven years.

• Marginal note:Life sentence

  (2) Subject to any order made under section 743.6 of the Criminal Code or section 226.2 of the National Defence Act, an offender who is serving a life sentence, imposed otherwise than as a minimum punishment, is not eligible for full parole until the day on which the offender has served a period of ineligibility of seven years less any time spent in custody between the day on which the offender was arrested and taken into custody, in respect of the offence for which the sentence was imposed, and the day on which the sentence was imposed.

Marginal note:Multiple sentences on same day

• 120.1 (1) A person who is not serving a sentence and who receives more than one sentence on the same day is not eligible for full parole until the day on which they have served a period equal to the total of

  • (a) the period of ineligibility in respect of any portion of the sentence constituted under subsection 139(1) that is subject to an order under section 743.6 of the Criminal Code or section 226.2 of the National Defence Act, and

  • (b) the period of ineligibility in respect of any other portion of that sentence.

• Marginal note:One or more additional consecutive sentences

  (2) If an offender who is serving a sentence, or is serving a sentence that was constituted under subsection 139(1), receives an additional sentence that is to be served consecutively to the sentence they are serving when the additional sentence is imposed — or receives, on the same day, two or more additional sentences to be served consecutively and the additional sentences are to be served consecutively to the sentence they are serving when the additional sentences are imposed — the offender is not eligible for full parole until the day on which they have served, from the day on which the additional sentence is or sentences are imposed, the total of the following periods:

  • (a) any remaining period of ineligibility in respect of the sentence they are serving when the additional sentence is or sentences are imposed, and

  • (b) the period of ineligibility in respect of the additional sentence or, in the case of two or more additional sentences, a period equal to the total of the periods of ineligibility in respect of all of the additional sentences.

• Marginal note:Additional sentence to be served consecutively to portion of sentence

  (3) Despite subsection (2), if an offender who is serving a sentence or a sentence that was constituted under subsection 139(1) receives an additional sentence or two or more sentences that are to be served consecutively to a portion of the sentence they are serving when the additional sentence is imposed — or receives, on the same day, two or more additional sentences including a sentence to be served concurrently with the sentence being served and one or more sentences to be served consecutively to the additional concurrent sentence — they are not eligible for full parole until the day on which they have served, from the day on which the additional sentence is or sentences are imposed, any remaining period of ineligibility to which they are subject and the longer of the following periods:

  • (a) one third of the period that equals the difference between the length of the sentence that was constituted under subsection 139(1), including the additional sentence or sentences, and the length of the sentence that they are serving when the additional sentence is or sentences are imposed; or

  • (b) the period of ineligibility of the additional sentence that is or sentences that are ordered to be served consecutively.

Marginal note:Additional concurrent sentence

• 120.2 (1) Subject to subsection (2), if an offender who is serving a sentence, or is serving a sentence that was constituted under subsection 139(1), receives an additional sentence that is to be served concurrently with the sentence they are serving when the additional sentence is imposed, they are not eligible for full parole until the day that is the later of

  • (a) the day on which they have served the period of ineligibility in respect of the sentence they are serving when the additional sentence is imposed, and

  • (b) the day on which they have served

    • (i) the period of ineligibility in respect of any portion, of the sentence that includes the additional sentence as provided by subsection 139(1), that is subject to an order under section 743.6 of the Criminal Code or section 226.2 of the National Defence Act, and

    • (ii) the period of ineligibility in respect of any other portion of that sentence.

• Marginal note:One or more sentences in addition to life sentence

  (2) If an offender who is serving a life sentence or a sentence for an indeterminate period receives a sentence for a determinate period — or receives, on the same day, two or more sentences for a determinate period — they are not eligible for full parole until the day on which they have served, from the day on which the additional sentence is or sentences are imposed, the total of the following periods:

  • (a) any remaining period of ineligibility to which they are subject, and

  • (b) the period of ineligibility in respect of the additional sentence or, in the case of two or more additional sentences, the period of ineligibility — determined in accordance with subsection (1) or section 120.1, as the case may be — in respect of the additional sentences.

• Marginal note:Reduction of period of ineligibility for parole

  (3) If there has been a reduction — under section 745.6 of the Criminal Code, subsection 226.1(2) of the National Defence Act or subsection 15(2) of the Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Act — in the number of years of imprisonment without eligibility for parole of an offender referred to in subsection (2), the offender is not eligible for full parole until the day on which they have served, from the day on which the additional sentence is or sentences are imposed, the total of the following periods:

  • (a) any remaining period of ineligibility to which they would have been subject after taking into account the reduction, and

  • (b) the period of ineligibility in respect of the additional sentence or, in the case of two or more additional sentences, the period of ineligibility — determined in accordance with subsection (1) or section 120.1, as the case may be — in respect of the additional sentences.