INTRODUCTION
Today, I will talk about the case of State
of Gujarat and Another v. Narayan, 2021 SCC OnLine SC 949, wherein the Hon’ble
Supreme Court discussed the differences between ‘parole’ and ‘furlough’.
We hear these terms quite often, but their meaning is unclear to many.
GENERAL MEANING
Let us discuss the plain meaning of ‘parole’ and ‘furlough’.
‘Parole’ has been defined as “the release of a prisoner from
imprisonment before the full sentence has been served”. “Parole is usually
granted for good behaviour on the condition that the parolee regularly report
to a supervising officer for a specified period.” Further, “the
essence of parole is release from prison, before completion of the sentence, on
condition that the prisoner abide by certain rules during the balance of the sentence.”
Whereas ‘Furlough’ is generally understood as “a
brief release from prison.” ‘The word ‘Furlough’ also has connotation
in service jurisprudence wherein it means “a leave of absence from military
or other employment duty.” However, on the present show, we will only
be concerned with ‘furlough’ in relation to prisons.
In order to understand more, let us go through the
summary of the differences between ‘parole’ and ‘furlough’ as laid down by the
Court.
OBSERVATIONS BY THE COURT
(a) Both parole and furlough are conditional
releases and envisage short term temporary releases from custody.
(b) Parole is generally granted in case of
short-term imprisonment whereas furlough is generally granted in case of
long-term imprisonment.
(c) Duration of parole generally extends to one
month whereas in the case of furlough it extends to fourteen days maximum.
However, all this depends upon the concerned rules.
(d) Parole is granted for the prisoner to meet a
specific exigency; however, generally speaking, a prisoner is entitled to apply
for furlough only once he has served the minimum years of sentence in terms of
the concerned rules.
(e) The grant of furlough is to break the monotony
of imprisonment and to enable the convict to maintain continuity with family
life and integration with society.
(f) The term of imprisonment is not included in
the computation of the term of parole, whereas it is vice versa in furlough and
the prisoner is eligible to have the period of release counted towards the
total period of his sentence undergone by him.
(g) Parole can be granted number of times whereas
there is limitation in the case of furlough.
(h) Although furlough can be claimed without a
reason, the prisoner does not have an absolute legal right to claim furlough.
(i) Since furlough is not granted for any
particular reason, it can be denied in the interest of the society. The grant
of furlough must be balanced against the public interest and can be refused to
certain categories of prisoners.
WORD OF CAUTION
Thus, I hope that the difference between ‘parole’
and ‘furlough’ is clear by now. It is also to be noted that the differences just
stated are general differences between the two. And both parole and furlough
are governed by various local laws such as State Jail Manuals, concerned
Criminal Procedure Rules, local statutes etc. Hence, these differences are only
general in nature. For more specific differences in relation to a particular
jurisdiction of a particular state, concerned laws will have to be looked into.
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