Joint Circular No. 73/TT-LB on the conditions and procedures for early release from imprisonment

CIRCULAR

JOINT MINISTRY OF JUSTICE - MINISTRY OF PUBLIC SECURITY - SUPREME PROSECUTOR'S OFFICE - SUPREME PEOPLE'S COURT

REGARDING THE CONDITIONS AND PROCEDURES FOR EARLY RELEASE FROM PRISON

THE MINISTER OF JUSTICE

THE MINISTER OF PUBLIC SECURITY

CHIEF OF THE SUPREME PROSECUTOR'S OFFICE

CHIEF JUSTICE OF THE SUPREME PEOPLE'S COURT

RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED TO THE FOLLOWING GENTLEMEN:

Chairman of the Administrative Committee of the region, province, and city,

Director of the Public Security Department of the region and city,

Chief of the Public Security Office of the province,

Chief Prosecutor of the region, province, and city,

President of the People's Court of the region, province, and city,

Regarding early release from prison, Decree No. 566/TTg dated December 24, 1958 of the Prime Minister stipulates as follows:

"... After sentencing, immediate organization for prisoners to engage in productive labor must be carried out. Those who work well and show good signs of rehabilitation shall be recommended by public security organs for prosecution to review and submit to the court for early release before their term."

Following approval by the Prime Minister, the Joint Ministry further clarifies the purpose, significance, conditions, and procedures for early release from prison as follows:

A- PURPOSE AND SIGNIFICANCE OF EARLY RELEASE FROM PRISON

Early release from prison is equivalent to reducing the prison sentence. After the reduction, if the remaining term is completed, the prisoner will be released immediately, but if there is still time left, the prisoner must continue serving until the full term is completed.

In our system, the purpose of punishment (especially imprisonment) is to combine retribution with education and rehabilitation. Education and rehabilitation within prisons are implemented through labor reform methods.

To encourage prisoners to strive for early rehabilitation and become honest workers contributing to socialist construction, according to the spirit of Decree No. 556/TTg mentioned above, courts may reduce the prison sentence for prisoners who have shown good results in labor and rehabilitation.

Reducing the prison sentence for prisoners who have been rehabilitated not only serves to encourage them but also demonstrates the humanitarian spirit of our system, which always prioritizes people and uses education and rehabilitation to transform criminal elements into good citizens.

B- CONDITIONS FOR EARLY RELEASE FROM PRISON

To be eligible for early release from prison, prisoners must meet the following conditions:

a- Rehabilitation Conditions

The reduction of a prison sentence must primarily be based on the actual rehabilitation of the prisoner, making this condition the primary one.

Good rehabilitation is reflected in three aspects: discipline, productive labor, and political attitude.

Regarding discipline: they must be willing to undergo rehabilitation, comply with the internal regulations and discipline of the prison.

Regarding productive labor, they must love labor and engage in genuine labor.

Regarding political attitude, they must support the socialist regime and have faith in the new system. It manifests in actively participating in building the prison, self-improvement, helping other prisoners improve, engaging in ideological struggle during study sessions and activities in the prison, disclosing additional information about their crimes if previously unreported to the police and court, reporting any malicious plans or actions of other prisoners to the management board, etc.

Prisoners who meet all three criteria regarding discipline, productive labor, and political attitude are considered to have been rehabilitated well.

When examining this rehabilitation condition, responsible agencies must consider the prisoner's rehabilitation achievements in conjunction with the nature of the offense and their background to accurately assess the level of rehabilitation. Care must be taken to prevent prisoners from feigning rehabilitation.

b- Time Served Condition

Relying solely on the level of rehabilitation to reduce a sentence is insufficient.

Even if a prisoner has been rehabilitated well, they must serve a certain period in prison before being eligible for early release, thus fulfilling both aspects of the punishment's purpose: retribution combined with education and rehabilitation. Moreover, even in terms of rehabilitation, to clearly see the results of rehabilitation, it is necessary to wait for a certain period to accurately assess the prisoner's level of rehabilitation.

- Prisoners sentenced to imprisonment from six months to five years must serve one-third of their sentence before being eligible for consideration.

- Prisoners sentenced to imprisonment from more than five years to ten years must serve two years before being eligible for consideration.

- Prisoners sentenced to imprisonment from over ten years to twenty years must serve three years before being eligible for consideration.

- Prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment must serve five years before being eligible for consideration.

c- Reduction Amount

It is necessary to specify the amount of reduction to properly achieve the purpose of punishment.

Generally, each reduction is from one month to three years, but reductions of three years must be carefully considered.

AFor life sentences, the first reduction can be down to twenty years.

Prisoners who have already received a reduction, if they continue to actively rehabilitate, may be considered for further reductions, but only once per year, and the total number of years or months reduced should not exceed half of the original sentence.

For life sentences, regardless of how many times the sentence is reduced, the prisoner must serve at least twelve years.

When considering reductions, extreme caution must be exercised with spies, saboteurs, special forces, bandits, stubborn landlord elements who refuse to rehabilitate, stubborn capitalist and rich peasant elements who oppose policies, and violent criminals.

For those with outstanding work records, for working-class people, for those aged sixty or older, for those with infectious or chronic diseases, for pregnant women or those with young children, and for those who have committed minor offenses and now sincerely repent and are determined to rehabilitate, broader considerations should be given.

In cases of reduction and immediate release, attention must be paid to the local circumstances to determine whether the reduction and release are beneficial or detrimental to the locality.

d- Special Cases

In cases where prisoners have numerous rehabilitation achievements or have performed meritorious acts such as assisting in the timely discovery of subversive organizations, escape plots, or riots within the prison, in cases of elderly prisoners with serious illnesses, or in cases of women with many children, the time served requirement and the reduction amount may be adjusted accordingly.

Regarding the time served requirement, it may be shortened compared to the provisions in section b of part B above. For example, for prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment, in special cases, they may be eligible for sentence reduction after serving only three or four years.

Regarding the reduction amount, each reduction may exceed the maximum of three years, and the total number of years or months reduced may exceed half of the original sentence.

For life imprisonment sentences, the number of years to be served may be reduced below twelve years, such as ten years for example. Particularly, for those aged sixty or older who are sentenced to life imprisonment, the number of years to be served may be reduced below ten years but not below five years.

Of course, in special cases, the conditions for rehabilitation must still be met.

C - PROCEDURE FOR REDUCING PRISON SENTENCES

According to Circular No. 556/TTg mentioned above, the reduction of prison sentences is proposed by the police, examined by the prosecution, and adjudicated by the court.

To ensure that the process of reducing sentences is conducted carefully and guarantees policy while also being swift and efficient, it is necessary to distinguish between the following three cases:

1. Prisoners serving sentences at provincial or municipal temporary detention centers.

Prisoners serving sentences at provincial or municipal detention centers are those who have committed minor criminal offenses, with sentences up to two years in prison, except for a few with sentences over two years but still detained at the provincial or municipal level for service purposes.

For prisoners sentenced to less than two years, if any meet the criteria for sentence reduction, the Provincial Public Security Department or Municipal Public Security Bureau will prepare a rehabilitation file (including a full copy of the prisoner's judgment) detailing their rehabilitation achievements and submit a proposal to the Provincial or Municipal People's Procuratorate for examination. If the Provincial or Municipal People's Procuratorate finds that the sentence can be reduced, they will transfer the file with their comments to the Provincial or Municipal People's Court. Upon receiving the file, the President of the Provincial or Municipal People's Court will either personally or designate a judge to review the file, gather additional materials if deemed necessary, and present it before a panel of judges including representatives from the Provincial or Municipal People's Procuratorate. The panel consists of:

The President and two lay judges,

or the President and two judges,

or the President, one judge, and one lay judge,

They will convene in the President's office (without a public hearing, without summoning the prisoner) to examine the rehabilitation file and the previous judgment of the prisoner. After listening to the representative of the Provincial or Municipal People's Procuratorate, the panel will discuss and decide by majority vote. The decision of the panel is considered final and immediately enforceable.

For prisoners sentenced to more than two years and for prisoners with sentences under two years but classified as counter-revolutionary elements, the Provincial Public Security Department or Municipal Public Security Bureau must seek approval from their superiors (Regional Public Security or Central Public Security) before proposing a sentence reduction.

2. Prisoners detained at autonomous region correctional facilities.

Both the Viet Bac and Thai Meo Autonomous Regions have regional correctional facilities to detain prisoners with relatively serious offenses.

For these prisoners, if any meet the criteria for sentence reduction, the Regional Public Security will prepare a rehabilitation file and submit it to the Regional People's Procuratorate for examination. The Regional People's Procuratorate will then submit it to the Regional People's Court for examination and issue a resolution according to the procedure outlined in Section C, Part 1 above.

The resolution of the Regional People's Court is considered final and immediately enforceable.

3. Prisoners detained at central correctional facilities.

For these prisoners, if any meet the criteria for sentence reduction, the Central Public Security will prepare a rehabilitation file and submit it to the Central People's Procuratorate for examination and then to the Supreme People's Court for examination and issuance of a resolution on sentence reduction according to the procedure followed by the Provincial or Municipal People's Courts. Since the Supreme People's Court does not have lay judges, the panel consists of three judges (the President or Vice-President and two judges).

It is important to note that before the Regional People's Court or the Supreme People's Court issues a resolution to reduce a prisoner's sentence, they should seek the opinion of the Provincial or Municipal People's Court that originally sentenced the prisoner.

When issuing a resolution to reduce a sentence, especially when releasing the prisoner immediately upon sentence reduction, the courts need to inform the local authorities of the reasons for the sentence reduction so that they can explain to the public and avoid misunderstandings.

Sentence reduction is a new matter, and we lack experience, so it needs to be handled cautiously and with continuous learning.

Each year, only one review for sentence reduction should be conducted during National Day on September 2nd (but timely reviews should be made to announce the decision before National Day). In special cases, reviews can be conducted outside of National Day, such as for prisoners who have achieved significant accomplishments in correctional facilities, elderly prisoners with serious illnesses, pregnant women or mothers with young children, prisoners nearing the end of their sentences who could be released immediately if their sentences are reduced, etc. To ensure the effectiveness of sentence reduction reviews, from now on, each time a final judgment is issued, the Provincial or Municipal People's Court must send a complete copy of the judgment to the current correctional facility holding the prisoner for inclusion in the rehabilitation file. Whenever a prisoner is transferred to another facility, this judgment must be included with the prisoner's rehabilitation file. With this judgment, the correctional facility can understand the prisoner's offense and develop appropriate rehabilitation plans, while also having sufficient grounds to assess the prisoner's efforts in rehabilitation. For the Regional People's Court and the Supreme People's Court when reviewing sentence reductions, in addition to studying the prisoner's rehabilitation file, they also need to study the prisoner's case file and judgment.