Smith v Queensland Community Corrections Board

SUPREME COURT OF QUEENSLAND

CITATION:

Smith v Queensland Community Corrections Board [2000] QSC 396

PARTIES:

ALAN PETER SMITH
(applicant)
v
QUEENSLAND COMMUNITY CORRECTIONS BOARD
(respondent)

FILE NO:

8886 of 2000

DIVISION:

Trial Division

DELIVERED ON:

3 November 2000

DELIVERED AT:

Brisbane

HEARING DATE:

26 October 2000

JUDGE:

White J

ORDER:

Declare that the term of imprisonment of Alan Peter Smith within the meaning of that term in s 175(1)(a)(i)(A) of the Corrective Services Act 1988 (as amended) expires on 25 November 2000.

CATCHWORDS:

CRIMINAL LAW - REMISSIONS - PAROLE - prisoner released on parole with parole order to expire at the end of the original sentence - prisoner also granted remissions - whether parole order expires on date of discharge having regard to grant of remissions.

Corrective Services Act 1988 (Qld), s 122, s 130(e), s 163, s 165, s 175(1)(a)(i)(A), s 183, s 184
Corrective Services Regulations 1989 (Qld), reg 21, reg 22, reg 23, reg 24, reg 25, reg 27, reg 28
Penalties and Sentences Act 1992 (Qld), s 4

Kelleher v Parole Board of New South Wales (1984) 156 CLR 364, considered.

COUNSEL:

J Davidson for the applicant
A MacSporran for the respondent

SOLICITORS:

Lewis Lawyers for the applicant
Walsh Halligan Douglas for the respondent

1. WHITE J:  The applicant was sentenced to 12 years imprisonment on 2 August 1989.  He was granted remission on his sentence in accordance with s 24 of the Corrective Services Regulations 1989 (“the Regulations”) of 203 days.  His prison sentence calendar shows his discharge date as 25 November 2000.  The applicant was released on parole on 21 August 2000.  The parole order states that it expires on 1 August 2001, 12 years from the date the sentence was imposed.

1. The applicant contends that his parole order ought to expire on the date of discharge, 25 November 2000, having regard to the grant of remission.

1. The respondent contends that the applicant’s sentence does not expire until 1 August 2001 and, pursuant to s 175(1)(a)(i)(A) of the Corrective Services Act 1988 (“the Act”), that is the date upon which his parole will expire. That section relevantly provides

“A parole order -
(a)      shall contain requirements that the prisoner -

(i)be under the supervision of a community correctional officer

(A)if the prisoner is a prisoner mentioned in section 165(1)(a) - for such period, that does not go past the end of the prisoner’s term of imprisonment, as is determined by the board making the order …”

1. The appellant is a person to whom s 175(1)(a)(i)(A) applies because he is the person to whom s 165(1)(a) of the Act applies, being a prisoner serving a term of imprisonment. A parole order may not extend past the end of the prisoner’s term of imprisonment. “Term of imprisonment” is defined in s 10 of the Act to mean

“(a)     the term of a single sentence; or

(b)the unbroken period of imprisonment a person is liable to serve by virtue of a number of sentences, whether ordered to…