The Court Ordered Parole experiencein Queensland from a corrections perspective

Scope Parole reforms in 2006 and 2017 This presentation is a state‐wide overview of the impact of Court 

Ordered Parole on other sentencing options, the size of the Probation and Parole and prisoner populations, and the churn between them. 

It does not cover the operational management of Court Ordered Parolees in custody or under community supervision.

Data breakdowns are not performed for region, gender, ethnicity or age.

Most data is sourced from Queensland Corrective Services’ Integrated Offender Management System (IOMS) database.

Parole reforms 2006

› Truth in sentencing› Early release decision making› Changes to community corrections

“Under the proposed changes prisoners will serve their entire sentence, either in custody until their release date or on parole. Any prisoner who breaches parole, will go back to prison. It is as simple as that.”Hon. Judy Spence MP, Minister for Police and Corrective Services 6 September 2005

"Remission is an old-fashioned concept and allows a prisoner's sentence imposed by a court to be administratively shortened, meaning prisoners have been released early and unsupervised into the community," Hon. Judy Spence MP, Minister for Police and Corrective Services6 September 2005

“This new service will toughen up post-prison offender supervision, and at the same time give these people access to more specialised programs to reduce their risk of re-offending” Hon. Peter Beattie MP, Premier of Queensland 3 June 2006

“This is about giving low-risk offenders the best chance to get their lives back on track once they are back in the community, but with extra safeguards built in for the community with tougher supervision and surveillance in case they re-offend.” Hon. Judy Spence MP, Minister for Police and Corrective Services 23 August 2006

Queensland Parole System Review

› Increased investment in the correctional system.› The power to suspend parole should be vested

solely in the Parole Board.› The legislation should provide for urgent

suspensions of parole to occur with the Chief Executive able to apply to the Parole Board 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Sentenced discharges from custody First sentenced discharge in episode

Does not include discharges to parole after suspension or cancellation

Sentenced admissions to custody by sentence length during 2016/17

First admission in episode – excludes returns from parole

Sentenced discharges by type of discharge for sentences up to 3 years

First custodial discharge in episode

Number of Probation and Parole offenders by order type

January 2002 to December 2017

Number of Partially Suspended Imprisonment Warrants per month

January 2004 to December 2017

Number of Probation and Parole offenders supervised on Prison/Probation, Intensive Correction and Intensive

Drug Rehabilitation Orders to December 2017

Prisoners and Probation and Parole OffendersPercent growth from January 2004 to December 2017

Todd Clear: The Iron Law of Prison Populations1. How many come through the prison

door2. How long they stay› Relevance to Court Ordered Parole

Adult Imprisonment Rates (prisoners per 100,000 adult population (Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics, 4512.0 Corrective Services, Australia)

State and Territory Adult Imprisonment Rates (exclNorthern Territory)(Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics, 4512.0 Corrective Services, Australia)

Proportion of sentence served in custody to Court Ordered Parole release date

for sentences commenced during 2016/17

Discharges to Court Ordered Parole during 2016/17Length of stay in custody under sentence

First discharge in episode: does not include discharges back to COP after suspension

Parole SuspensionsJuly 2017 to December 2017

The power to suspend parole lies with the Parole BoardQueensland.

Probation and Parole applies to the Parole Board to have aparole order suspended if they believe the parolee:› has failed to comply with the parole order; or› poses a serious and immediate risk of harm to another person; or› poses an unacceptable risk of committing an offence; or› is preparing to leave the State, other than under a written order 

granting the prisoner leave to travel interstate or overseas.

Parole Suspensions by Parole Order typeJuly 2007 to December 2017

Parole CancellationsA Court Ordered Parole Order can be cancelled in two ways:

1.   automatic cancellation if the parolee is sentenced to another period of imprisonment for an offence committed, in Queensland or elsewhere, during the period of the order.

2.    by the Parole Board if they believe the parolee:› has failed to comply with the parole order; or› poses a serious risk of harm to someone else; or› poses an unacceptable risk of committing an offence; or› is preparing to leave Queensland, other than under a written order granting 

the prisoner leave to travel interstate or overseas.

If a Court Ordered Parole is cancelled the prisoner is not eligible for another Court Ordered Parole Order but can apply to the Parole Board to be released on Board Parole.

Court Ordered Parole completions during 2016/17

Court Ordered ParolePercent of completions that were successful

2010/11 to 2016/17

Risk of Reoffending (RoR) Assessment The RoR is an risk of reoffending assessment tool developed by Griffith 

University(*) for Queensland Corrective Services.

Developed in 2006, revalidated in 2016.

Uses a statistical method to calculate a risk of reoffending score from offender information recorded on IOMS(**). Uses data such as age, offence type, number of current and previous convictions.

A RoR score is automatically calculated at admission for every sentenced prisoner and most Probation and Parole offenders (excluding pure fine‐defaulters and those on community service, or intensive correction orders) .

Queensland Corrective Services uses RoR scores (and other information) when assessing prisoners for rehabilitation programs and in determining levels of service in Probation and Parole.

(*) Griffith University Griffith Criminology Institute Carleen Thompson and Anna Stewart

(**) Queensland Corrective Services’ Integrated Offender Management System (IOMS) data base

Court Ordered ParolePercent Successful/Unsuccessful completions

during 2016/17 by Risk of Reoffending (RoR) score

All admissions to custody per month to December 2017

Number of prisonersJanuary 2009 to December 2017

Court Ordered ParolePredicted versus Actual Reoffending

No Yes1 112 11 8.9%2 7 1 12.5%3 14 6 30.0%4 195 38 16.3%5 155 31 16.7%6 108 56 34.1%7 202 88 30.3%8 311 105 25.2%9 218 142 39.4%10 189 146 43.6%11 307 174 36.2%12 238 190 44.4%13 303 227 42.8%14 272 220 44.7%15 211 210 49.9%16 638 655 50.7%17 188 188 50.0%18 52 81 60.9%19 351 466 57.0%20 166 260 61.0%22 51 98 65.8%

Total 4288 3393 44.2%

Commit new sentenced prison offence within 18 mths of discharge

% with new offence within 18 mths

Court Ordered Parole discharges from custody during 2014 and 2015 (excl. from temporary suspension)

RoR Score

Thank you