King v Alan Piper, Director General, Department of Justice WA

[2004] WASCA 218

Western Australia Court of Appeal

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Interrogate

Catchwords

1. Criminal Law
2. › Sentencing
3. › Imprisonment
4. › Parole
5. › Cancellation of parole order
6. › Effect on entitlement to release
7. › Whether prisoner entitled to release at two-thirds of term after cancellation of parole
8. › Sentencing Act 1995 (WA), s 85, s 95
9. › Sentence Administration Act 1995 (WA), s 71
1. Practice and Procedure
2. › Habeas corpus
3. › Application by prisoner
4. › Whether prisoner held unlawfully in custody following discharge date
5. › Appropriate remedy where lawfulness of detention raises question of statutory interpretation
1. Statutory Interpretation
2. › Construction of sentencing legislation
3. › Relationship between Sentencing Act 1995 (WA) and Sentence Administration Act 1995 (WA)
4. › Transitional provisions
5. › Sentencing Legislation Amendment and Repeal Act 2003 (WA), s 22, s 29, Sch 1 cl 5(2), cl 9

Quick Take

A prisoner serving a parole term who has been released on parole and whose parole order is subsequently cancelled is not entitled to release at the two-thirds mark of the sentence under s 95(2) of the Sentencing Act 1995 (WA). Instead, s 71(1) of the Sentence Administration Act 1995 (WA) applies, requiring the prisoner to serve the whole of the term unless a further parole order is made. The transitional provisions in the Sentencing Legislation Amendment and Repeal Act 2003 (WA) preserve the application of the old provisions for calculating discharge dates for prisoners subject to parole terms before commencement.