CHAPTER 3. PART 2 : INTERMITTENT CUSTODY ORDERS
Definition
4.1 Where an English court passing a sentence of imprisonment of less than 12 months does not make a Suspended Sentence Order, it has to make a Custody Plus Order (Part 1 of this Chapter) or an Intermittent Custody Order (this Part of this Chapter.)
4.2 The length of the sentence must:
4.2.1 be expressed in weeks
4.2.2 be at least 28 weeks
4.2.3 not exceed 51 weeks in respect of any single offence, and
4.2.4 not exceed the maximum term permitted for that offence.
4.3 There are three essential elements of an Intermittent Custody Order:
4.3.1 the court specifies the number of days that the offender must serve in prison before being released on licence for the remainder of the term; and
4.3.2 the court specifies periods during which the offender is to be released temporarily on licence before (s)he has served that number of days in prison; and
4.3.3 the court may require any licence period to be granted subject to compliance with one or more requirements listed in 4.9 below.
4.4 The number of custodial days must be at least 14 and, in respect of any one offence, must not be more than 90.
4.5 An Intermittent Custody Order may not be given unless the offender consents to serving the custodial days intermittently.
4.6 Where a court wishes to impose an Intermittent Custody Order in respect of two or more terms of imprisonment that are to be served consecutively, then:
4.6.1 the aggregate length must not exceed 65 weeks, and
4.6.2 the aggregate number of custodial days must not exceed 180.
4.7 A court may not make an Intermittent Custody Order unless:
4.7.1 it has consulted with a Probation Officer; and
4.7.2 there is suitable prison accommodation available for the offender during the custodial periods; and
4.7.3 there is suitable accommodation available for the offender during the licence periods.
Licence Conditions
4.8 Where more than one requirement is ordered to be undertaken during the licence period, the court may instruct different time periods for compliance in relation to each requirement.
4.9 The different requirements that can be ordered as a condition of licence are as follows:
(a) unpaid work (community service)
(b) activity (not transferable to Scotland - see paragraph 3.10 above)
(c) programme (not transferable to Scotland - see paragraph 3.10 above)
(d) prohibited activity
(e) curfew (normally electronically monitored)
(f) exclusion (normally electronically monitored)
(g) supervision
(h) attendance centre (under 25's) (not transferable to Scotland- see paragraph 3.10 above.)
4.10 A requirement of electronic monitoring maybe made in addition to any other requirement.