Section 1a: Compulsory release

I.-The situation of any convicted person serving one or more custodial sentences of a total duration of less than or equal to five years must be examined by the sentence enforcement judge with a view to ordering compulsory release when the length of the sentence served is at least equal to twice the length of the sentence still to be served.

Compulsory release means that the remainder of the sentence is served under the parole, electronically supervised home detention, work release or semi-liberty schemes. The consequences of non-compliance with these measures are those set out in this Code.

Compulsory release is decided by the sentence enforcement judge who, after consulting the sentence enforcement commission, determines which of the measures provided for in the second paragraph is best suited to the sentenced person's situation.

The enforcement judge may refuse to grant release under restraint only by finding, in a specially reasoned order, that it is impossible to implement one of these measures with regard to the requirements of article 707.

If the situation of the convicted person is not examined in accordance with the provisions of the first paragraph of this I, the president of the enforcement division of the court of appeal may, of his own motion or on referral from the convicted person or the public prosecutor, order a measure of release under restraint under the conditions provided for in this I.

This I does not apply to sentenced persons:

1° Who have previously made known their refusal of a release under constraint;

2° For whom a request for sentence adjustment is pending before the sentence enforcement court; in this case, if the conditions for serving the sentence provided for in the first paragraph are met, adjustment must be ordered unless it is impossible to implement in view of the requirements of Article 707.

II.-When a convicted offender serving one or more custodial sentences of a total duration of less than or equal to two years has a remaining sentence to serve of less than or equal to three months, release under constraint applies as of right, except in the event of material impossibility resulting from the absence of accommodation. The sentence enforcement judge will determine the applicable measure after consulting the sentence enforcement commission.

In the event of non-compliance with the measure and any obligations and prohibitions set, the sentence enforcement judge may order, in accordance with the procedures set out in Article 712-6, the withdrawal or revocation of the measure and the re-incarceration of the person for a period no longer than the aggregate of the sentence that he or she still had to serve at the time of the decision and any sentence reductions granted that had not been withdrawn.

III.-II of this article does not apply to:

1° Convicted persons imprisoned to serve one or more sentences, at least one of which was handed down for an offence classified as a felony, for an offence provided for in the Articles 421-1 to 421-6 of the Penal Code, for an offence provided for in Title II of Book II of the same code when committed against a minor under the age of fifteen or against a person in a position of public authority, or for an offence committed with the aggravating circumstance defined in Article 132-80 of the said code;

2° To detainees who, while in detention, have been subject to a disciplinary sanction for one of the following offences:

a) Exercising or attempting to exercise physical violence against a member of staff of the establishment or a person on a mission or visiting the establishment;

b) Exercising or attempting to exercise physical violence against a detainee;

c) Opposing violent resistance to the injunctions of members of the establishment's prison staff;

d) Taking part or attempting to take part in any collective action likely to compromise the security of the establishment or disrupt its order.