What are the conditions and the procedure for adjudicating on granting a prisoner a permit to serve a custodial sentence in the electronic supervision system?

The Electronic Supervision System (ESS) is a state-of-the-art non-custodial system that allows serving a sentence of imprisonment outside the prison.

Execution of a sentence in ESS consists in serving a sentence according to a detailed schedule set by the court. A person serving a sentence in this way must stay in his home or other place where the sentence is served at strictly defined hours. In some cases, with the consent of the court, the convicted person may stay outside the place of serving the sentence to work at the workplace, farm, continue education or perform other life and family duties.

The electronic surveillance system consists of a transmitter installed on a wristband. The device automatically controls the execution of the court’s orders by the convict. Importantly, any „absences or delays, the monitoring device immediately notifies the Monitoring Center about this event, which accurately records the course of the penalty. The penitentiary judge and professional probation officer are also immediately informed about each such fact. „

The conditions to be met for a penitentiary court to grant a prisoner a permit to serve a custodial sentence in the electronic supervision system are specified in Art. 43 la § 1 of the Executive Penal Code. Pursuant to the above-mentioned article, the following conditions must be met:

1. the sentenced person was sentenced to imprisonment not exceeding one year and 6 months and the conditions provided for in Art. 64 § 2 of the Criminal Code; (Article 64 § 2 of the Criminal Code concerns recidivism)
2. it is sufficient to achieve the goals of the punishment;
3. the convicted person has a specific place of permanent residence;
4. adults living together with the convicted person have given the consent referred to in art. 43h § 3;
5. serving a penalty of deprivation of liberty in the electronic supervision system shall not be prevented by the technical conditions referred to in art. 43 h § 1.

After meeting the above conditions, the penitentiary court may grant permission to serve the sentence in the ESS system.

[Legal status 8.11.2021]