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Parole Act 2002

Parole and other release from detention - Release - Parole

27: Board may make postponement order

You could also call this:

"The Board can delay your parole hearing if they think you're not ready to be released yet."

Illustration for Parole Act 2002

The Board can make an order to delay considering you for parole if you are serving a very long sentence, like an indeterminate sentence or a determinate sentence of 10 years or more. The Board must be satisfied that you will not be ready for release for a while. They can delay your parole hearing for a certain time, but they must set a new date for your hearing within 5 years of your last one.

When the Board delays your parole hearing, they might tell you what you need to do before your next hearing, like taking part in certain activities. If the prison manager thinks you have finished these activities early or if your situation has changed a lot, they will tell the Board. The Board might then consider you for parole earlier than planned.

You can ask the Board to consider you for parole at any time if you think your situation has changed a lot. The Board will look at your request and decide what to do. The manager of the prison where you are being held will let the Board know if you have completed the activities they specified or if your circumstances have changed significantly.

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This page was last updated on

View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM138493.

Topics:
Crime and justice > Criminal lawCrime and justice > Courts and legal help
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26: Other times when Board may consider offenders for parole, or

"When you can be considered for parole at a different time"

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27A: Procedure for making postponement order, or

"How the Parole Board decides to delay your parole hearing"

Part 1Parole and other release from detention
Release: Parole

27Board may make postponement order

  1. The Board may make an order postponing consideration of an offender for parole if—

  2. the offender is serving—
    1. an indeterminate sentence; or
      1. a determinate sentence of 10 years or more; and
      2. the Board is satisfied that, in the absence of a significant change in the offender's circumstances, the offender will not be suitable for release for the duration of the postponement order.

        1. The postponement order must specify a date (the specified date) by which the next parole hearing must be held.

        2. The specified date must be within 5 years of the offender's most recent parole hearing.

        3. In making a postponement order, the Board may specify the relevant activities (if any) that the Board expects will be completed by the specified date.

        4. If the manager of the prison in which the offender is detained considers that all of the relevant activities specified under subsection (4) have been completed earlier than the specified date or considers that there has been a significant change in the circumstances of an offender subject to a postponement order that are relevant to release of the offender on parole,—

        5. the manager must notify the Board as soon as practicable; and
          1. the chairperson or a panel convenor may refer the offender for consideration for parole at a date earlier than the specified date.

            1. An offender subject to a postponement order may at any time apply to the Board requesting consideration for parole on the grounds that there has been a significant change in his or her circumstances.

            Notes
            • Section 27: replaced, on , by section 13 of the Parole Amendment Act 2015 (2015 No 4).