The perpetrator’s sentence
Graduated sentencing
When someone is sentenced to prison that does not always mean that they will be confined to prison the whole time. If the prisoner demonstrates good behaviour and takes part in treatment it’s possible that they will get to serve their sentence with more lenient security, subject to the Prison and Probation Administration’s conditions.
Further into the sentence, they might be granted day leave from the prison, get to serve the sentence in an open prison that is not fenced off, be transferred to a residential rehabilitation centre, or be granted an ankle bracelet and be electronically monitored.
If the convicted person breaks the rules at the place where they are serving their sentence, they can be sent back to a closed prison.
Why the graduated system?
The Prison and Probation Administration’s policy is that the punishment for an offence is the judgement itself, and that the sentence should rehabilitate people in order to prevent them from committing another offence in the future. People need to be reintegrated into society, not ostracised.
The policy is based in part on evidence that it is very difficult to reform a person in a closed prison