Breach of work penalties and conditional release in Belgium

Beyens, Kristel; Scheirs, Veerle

doi:10.4324/9781315407500-7

Cited by 2 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 1 publication

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Next to these general conditions, the Sentence Implementation Court can impose specific individualised conditions, such as the obligation to maintain a meaningful day activity and/or to follow a treatment plan, the prohibition to drink alcohol; to use drugs; to possess guns; and/or to contact the victim(s) of the offences that have led to the conviction (Beyens and Scheirs, 2017). The release procedure is oriented at both social reintegration and public protection, so the conditions are in practice formulated to enhance the social reintegration of the released person and/or to minimise possible risks of reoffending (Scheirs, 2014(Scheirs, , 2016.…”

Section: Legal Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The nature of the decision-making practices is examined from the previously described reintegration-oriented penal culture of the Sentence Implementation Courts by Scheirs (2016). Our central finding is that the recall process is embedded in a strong narrative of 'giving chances' (see also Beyens and Scheirs, 2017). Even more so, recall decision makers consider breach of the licence conditions as part of the reintegration process, framing recall to prison as a phase in an ongoing reintegration trajectory of the parolee, rather than the end of it.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Recall to prison in Belgium: Back-end sentencing in search of reintegration

et al. 2020

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In recent years, the United States and England and Wales have witnessed growing re-incarceration rates. This growth is not only due to the courts sending more people to prison (‘front-end sentencing’), but also due to an increasing number of revocations of early release measures, mainly following technical violations of licence conditions (so called ‘back-end sentencing’). However, it is unclear whether the same phenomenon exists in other (European) countries. Therefore, we empirically studied prison recall decision-making processes in Belgium by file analysis, complemented with focus groups with the decision makers involved in the recall process of prisoners with a sentence of more than three years. We found that the recall process in Belgium is embedded in a strong narrative of ‘giving chances’ and that all decision makers deploy a large amount of discretion, which they use to make deliberate decisions in an attempt to facilitate parolees’ reintegration process. Non-compliance with imposed conditions does not automatically lead to recall and even when a parolee is sent back to prison, recall is framed by the decision makers as a step in the reintegration process, not the end of it.

show abstract

Section: Legal Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Recall to prison in Belgium: Back-end sentencing in search of reintegration

et al. 2020

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

Recall to prison in Belgium: Experiences of parolees who live under licence conditions

Teugels

2023

Archives of Criminology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In the recent penological literature, the back door of a prison is often presented as a revolving door through which many prisoners leave the prison prematurely, but then return after a short period. A large number of prisoners who have been conditionally released are sent back to prison during the licence period or before the end of their sentence due to a breach of the licence conditions. Since the revocation of a release modality (such as parole) might affect reintegration, a careful balance is needed between proportionality, the risks, the possibility of behavioural change and the opportunities for reintegration. In other words, the impact on detainees should not be underestimated if a decision to recall is being taken. Since the majority of parolees in Belgium are sent back to prison after non-compliance with the imposed conditions, this article discusses the experiences of interviewees who lived under these conditions when being granted a release modality before being recalled to prison.

show abstract

Breach of work penalties and conditional release in Belgium

Cited by 2 publications

References 1 publication

Recall to prison in Belgium: Back-end sentencing in search of reintegration

Recall to prison in Belgium: Back-end sentencing in search of reintegration

Recall to prison in Belgium: Experiences of parolees who live under licence conditions

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About