Victorian Consolidated Legislation

Prisoners (Interstate Transfer) Act 1983 - SECT 28

Provisions relating to translated sentences

28. Provisions relating to translated sentences



(1) Where under a law of a participating State there has been fixed by a court
in respect of a translated sentence a non-parole period (being a shorter
period than the translated sentence), during which non-parole period the
person subject to the sentence is not eligible to be released on parole, then,
except as otherwise provided in this Act, that non-parole period shall be
deemed likewise to have been fixed by the corresponding court of Victoria.

(2) Where a translated sentence or a non-parole period deemed under subsection
(1) to have been fixed by a corresponding court of Victoria-

   (a)  is varied or quashed on a review by or appeal to a court of the
        participating State where the sentence or non-parole period was
        imposed or fixed, the sentence or non-parole period shall be deemed to
        have been varied to the same extent, or to have been quashed, by a
        corresponding court of Victoria; or

   (b)  otherwise is varied or ceases to have effect as a result of action
        taken by any person or authority in that participating State, the
        sentence shall be deemed to have been varied to the same extent, or to
        have ceased to have effect, as a result of action taken by an
        appropriate person or authority in Victoria.

(3) Nothing in this Act operates to permit in Victoria any appeal against or
review of any conviction, judgment, sentence or non-parole period made,
imposed or fixed in relation to a person by a court of a participating State.





(4) Where a translated sentence is an indeterminate sentence requiring that
the person who is the subject of the sentence be detained during the pleasure
of Her Majesty or during the pleasure of the Governor of the participating
State in which the sentence was imposed, the person shall be detained during
the Governor's pleasure.

(5) The Governor-

   (a)  may exercise the royal prerogative of mercy in favour of a person who
        is subject to a translated sentence as if the person were-

   (i)  an offender convicted in a court of Victoria; or

   (ii) an offender convicted within Victoria before a judge or magistrate of
        Victoria; and

   (b)  in exercising that prerogative, may give effect to any indication
        given by the Governor of the participating State in which the sentence
        of imprisonment was imposed upon that person as to what the Governor
        of the participating State may have done had the person not been
        transferred to Victoria.

(6) A person who is subject to a translated sentence-





   (a)  shall be deemed to have served in Victoria such period of the
        translated sentence as, up to the time of his transfer to Victoria, he
        had served in respect of that sentence in a participating State
        (including any period deemed by the provision of an interstate law
        that corresponds to this paragraph to have been served in a
        participating State and any period spent in custody while being
        transferred to a prison in Victoria); and

   (b)  shall, subject to subsection (7), be credited, in respect of the part
        of the translated sentence served in a participating State, with such
        entitlements to remission as may be specified in the order of
        transfer;

   (c)  shall, in accordance with the law of Victoria, be credited with
        further reductions of that sentence as from the day of the person's
        arrival in Victoria.



(7) Any remission of a translated sentence-

   (a)  for which the person who is subject to the sentence was eligible up to
        the time of the person's transfer to Victoria; and

   (b)  which is attributable to a part of the sentence not served or not to
        be served in the participating State from which the person was
        transferred-

shall not be taken into account for the purposes of subsection (6)(b).

(8) A non-parole period in respect of a person subject to a translated
sentence may be fixed, extended or reduced by the appropriate Victorian court
on the application of the person subject to the sentence or the Crown.



(9) Subsection (5) does not apply in relation to a conviction or transferred
sentence referred to in section 24(2)(a) or (b) of the
Transfer of Prisoners Act 1983 of the Commonwealth, but nothing in this
subsection shall be construed as preventing the Queen or the Governor from
exercising the royal prerogative of mercy as referred to in section 24(2) of
that Act.

(10) In this section the appropriate Victorian court, in relation to a person
subject to a translated sentence, means a court that is, in relation to the
court by which the sentence was imposed, a corresponding court of Victoria.