Prison and Parole

Who goes to Prison?

Two types of prisoners can be sent to prison by the court.  Sentenced prisoners have been convicted of a crime and given a term of imprisonment.  Remand prisoners are being held while awaiting trial or sentencing. 

Can Prisoners have money?

If a person sent to prison has money on arrival it will be deposited into their prison trust account.  Every prisoner has a Prison Trust Account.   All prisoners receive a small payment while in prison and some prisoners are able to work in prison to earn additional money.  They can then access this money from their prison trust account to purchase a range of approved grocery items in prison.

Support people can bank money into a prisoners trust account through the Westpac bank.  Contact PARS for more information.

What items are people in prison allowed?

Except in some circumstances, people in prison are allowed to have certain approved items in their cells.  Each prison has a list of approved items which include:

Contact PARS for more information on restriction and quantities of each item, and the process for sending items into someone in prison.    For example, items of clothing cannot be in gang colours of blue, red or yellow.

What is Parole?

People in prison do not apply for Parole.  All people in prison who are serving a sentence of more than two years becomes eligible for parole after serving on-third of their sentence.

Prisoners serving less that two years are released after serving half of their sentence. They are not seen by the Parole Board, but may be subject to conditions imposed by the court that sentenced them.