My TrackI will be released into
the UK
- 0%
- 100%
Release on License
1.Overview
A person who is sentenced to 12 months or more in prison, upon release from prison, will be supervised by the Probation service for the remainder of their sentence. So, for example, a person sentenced to 12 months imprisonment would usually serve 6 months in prison, and then spend six months in the community supervised by Probation. This is known as being ‘on licence’. A person who is on licence must abide by certain conditions. If they breach any of the conditions they may be returned to prison to serve the remainder of their sentence. At minimum, conditions will usually include: - That a person does not commit any further offences and does not engage in other behaviour which might impact negatively on resettlement in the community - Reporting regularly to the supervising probation officer (known as an Offender Manager, or OM) and complying with any instructions - Living at an address agreed with the OM and notifying them of any changed to this address - Only doing work agreed by the OM, whether paid or unpaid - Not travelling outside of the UK, but see below for exceptions. There may also be additional licence requirements set, for example keeping away from certain places or certain people, or participating in a drug treatment or other programme.
2. Contact with your Offender Manager
Prisoners will be allocated an Offender Manager (OM), who is a probation officer based in the area of the UK where it is anticipated that the prisoner will be resettled. If a prisoner is expected to be deported or has no settled address in the UK, they may be either allocated to an OM located near the court at which they were sentenced, or in some cases may be dealt with by an OM in a specialist team, such as the Foreign Nationals Unit in London Probation. An OM has various functions at different points of a sentence but these may include writing risk assessments and other documents which the Home Office Immigration Enforcement team consider when they are assessing someone’s case. If a prisoner is released into the UK on licence, they will be supervised by their OM. An OM usually has access to resources, such as specialist housing advisers, or employment advisers, who can assist an offender with any problems that they may be experiencing.
3.Release on licence and immigration bail
If an FNP is held in immigration bail after his or her criminal sentence and then released into the UK on immigration bail this may cause the following issues: - FNPs may be released on immigration bail after the licence period has expired. They will therefore not be ‘on licence’ at all. While some FNPs may se this as a good thing, it may have negative consequences, for example depriving them of the possible help that an Offender Manager may be able to give, as outlined above. - If an FNP is released on immigration bail while still within the licence period, it is possible that he or she may be released with bail conditions which conflict with the licence conditions. For example, the immigration bail conditions may state that the FNP must live at a particular address, while the licence conditions may state that he or she should live somewhere else. Ideally, the judge at the bail hearing should be made aware of any licence conditions and an FNP should not propose any bail conditions which are incompatible with their licence conditions. However, if, for any reason, an FNP does end up with incompatible conditions they should make their Offender Manager aware of the problem as soon as possible. - If an FNP is released on immigration bail at short notice the Offender Manager may not be immediately aware of this. It is the responsibility of HOIE CC to inform the OM of the release.
4.Suspension of licence
It is possible for a licence to be suspended if an offender wishes to leave the UK and resettle abroad. The decision to suspend the licence will depend on the assessment of the OM with regard to the risks involved. If you wish to do this you should talk to your OM about the possibility.