Probationary liberty under supervision

Probationary liberty under supervision (aka supervised probationary freedom) means that a sentenced person can be released under supervision as an experiment at most six months before his or her regular conditional release. The aim of probationary liberty is to promote the sentenced person’s controlled and planned release and adjustment to society.

A person placed in probationary liberty commits to comply with the obligations and orders included in the enforcement plan as well as with the predetermined weekly schedule. The daily schedule of the person placed in probationary liberty contains an individually agreed activity; that is called the obligation to participate in an activity. In general, the person placed in probationary liberty is obligated to stay at home between 21.00 and 6.00 o’clock unless it is more practical to agree otherwise due to, for instance, regular work. Officials of the Criminal Sanctions Agency meet and supervise the person placed in probationary liberty regularly. Technical monitoring is also used as an aid in the supervision. Another essential feature of probationary liberty under supervision is that the person placed in probationary liberty complies with the obligation to abstain from intoxicating substances for the whole duration of the probationary liberty and it will be controlled, for instance, with the help of substance use tests.

Starting from the beginning of next year, a prisoner sentenced for a sexual offence can be required to undertake pharmacotherapy prescribed to prevent sexual offences as a condition for probationary liberty. In practice, it applies to, for example, offenders who have been sentenced for aggravated rape or aggravated sexual abuse of a child.

The person placed in probationary liberty is allowed to live at his or her own home and work, study or go to rehabilitation. It is also possible to live in a halfway house or a rehabilitation institution during probationary liberty. Besides activities, maintaining contact with close people and practising a life without crime and intoxicating substances are also important in probationary liberty.

If the person placed in probationary liberty violates his or her obligations, the Criminal Sanctions Agency examines the matter, hears the person placed in probationary liberty, and decides on the consequence of the violation of the obligations, which can be an oral caution, a written warning, or a withdrawal of probationary liberty for a fixed term or in full.