THE GOOD CONDUCT PRISONERS' PROBATIONAL RELEASE ACT, 1938

1. (1) This Act may be called the Good Conduct Prisoners' Probational Release Act, 1938. (2) It extends to the whole of Assam. (3) It shall come into force on such date as the Provincial Government may, by publication in the Assam Gazette, specify in this behalf.

2. Notwithstanding anything contained in section 401 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898, where a person is confined in prison under a sentence of imprisonment, and it appears to the Provincial Government from his antecedents or his conduct in the prison that he is likely to abstain from crime and lead a useful and industrious life, if he is released from prison, the Provincial Government may by license permit him to be released on condition (a) that he be placed under the supervision or authority of a servant of the Crown or a secular institution or of a person, or society professing the same religion as the prisoner, named in the license and willing to take charge of him, and (b) that he gives an undertaking in writing to conform to the terms of his license. Explanation.—The expression “sentence of imprisonment” in this section shall, in case of persons under 21 years of age, include imprisonment in default of payment of fine and imprisonment for failure to furnish security under Chapter VIII of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898.

3. A license granted under the provisions of section 2 shall be in force until the date on which the person released would, in the execution of the order or warrant authorizing his imprisonment, have been discharged from prison had he not been released on license, or until the license is revoked, whichever is sooner.

4. The period during which a Person is absent from prison under the provisions of this Act on a license which is in force shall be reckoned as a part of the period of imprisonment to which he was sentenced, for the purpose of computing the period of his sentence. Explanation.—Any period of remission earned under existing rules while undergoing imprisonment shall be added to the period actually served in jail when computing the total period of the prisoner's sentence.

5. A license granted under the provisions of section 2 shall be in such form and shall contain such conditions as the Provincial Government may by rules, or, in special cases, orders, made in this behalf direct.

6. (1) The Provincial Government may at any time revoke a license granted under the provisions of section 2. (2) An order of revocation passed under the provisions of sub-section (1) shall specify the date with effect from which the license shall cease to be in force, and shall be served in such manner as the Provincial Government may by rule prescribe, upon the person whose license has been revoked. (3) Notwithstanding anything contained in section 4 of this Act, a released prisoner, whose license is revoked for failure to comply with the terms of his license shall be re-committed to prison and shall serve the unexpired term of the original sentence, and in case of such revocation he will not be granted any remission for the time during which he was out of prison on probation.

7. The Provincial Government may make rules consistent with this Act— (1) for the form and conditions of licenses on which prisoners may be released ; (2) for defining the powers and duties of servants of the Crown, societies or persons, under whose authority or supervision conditionally released prisoners may be kept ; (3) for defining the classes of offenders who may be conditionally released and the periods of imprisonment after which they may be so released ; (4) generally for carrying into effect all the purposes of this Act.