In certain circumstances, a court can order an offender who has completed their sentence to be subject to post sentence supervision or detention. This includes serious violent offenders and serious sex offenders who the court determine will be an unacceptable risk of committing further relevant offences after finishing their sentence.
Although persons who are on parole or a post sentence supervision order are both living in the community and subject to conditions and supervision, there are important differences:
- A parolee is still serving a prison sentence even though they are living in the community (legally they are still referred to as a ‘prisoner’). If their parole is cancelled, they will be returned to prison to serve the balance of their sentence in prison. By contrast, a person on a post sentence supervision order is no longer under sentence.
- A parole order is made by the Adult Parole Board. The Board imposes the parole conditions and it is the Board that decides whether to cancel the parole order and to return the parolee to prison to serve the rest of their sentence. By contrast, a post sentence supervision order is made by a court. The court imposes the conditions. If the person breaches a supervision order, they can be prosecuted in court for an offence of breaching a supervision order and can be sentenced by a court for that offence.
The Adult Parole Board has no jurisdiction with respect to post sentence orders.
The Post Sentence Authority is an independent statutory agency with responsibility for monitoring offenders who are subject to a post sentence order. For more information about post sentence orders and the Post Sentence Authority, visit postsentenceauthority.vic.gov.au (link opens in a new window).
