When convicted of a crime and sentenced to jail or prison, there are circumstances when the prisoner is released early. There are four different types of conditional releases in Minnesota.
Supervised Release – The offender spends some time out of the prison but under the direct supervision of a probation officer. However, this supervised time is not included as part of the sentence and the person must complete the specified sentence.
Conditional Release – The offender is released from incarceration with strict conditions attached to being set free. In the case of any violation of the orders, conditional release is revoked and the person returned to prison.
Parole Release – Granted by a parole board, it is a permanent but supervised release before the end of the sentence. Breaking any of the conditions set by the board may result in the parole being revoked and the offender being returned to prison.
“Good Time” – This is relaxing the initial sentence because of the prisoner’s good behavior behind bars.
Mandatory Conditional Release
Certain types of criminal convictions come with mandatory terms of supervised release. These crimes include criminal sexual conduct crimes and felony DWI crimes. Conditional release means that the person will have to serve time in prison first, but then even after release from prison the person will be on strict supervision with the Department of Corrections for a period of time established by law – sometimes five years, ten years, or lifetime.
Contrast Minnesota’s mandatory conditional release laws against the typical prison and parole system. Typically if a person is ordered into prison, let’s say for example it’s for nine years, the person would serve two-thirds of the sentence in prison and the remaining one-third of the sentence on parole – that’s six years in prison and three years on parole. After successful completion of parole, the person is completely finished.
It works much differently when we’re dealing with mandatory conditional release for some sex and DWI crimes. Taking the same example of nine years, the person might do the six years in prison, then the three years on parole – but then still will be required to serve an additional five years or more on mandatory conditional release. It’s critical that you know what you’re up against if there’s a possibility of mandatory conditional release.
Call Experienced Mandatory Conditional Release Lawyers in Minnesota
If you’re facing a Criminal charge, you can trust the experienced Minnesota lawyers at Sieben Edmunds Miller to advocate for you. We proudly serve the cities of Burnsville, Bloomington, Minneapolis, Woodbury, Eagan, Mendota Heights, St. Paul, Hastings, Hudson, and River Falls in Conditional Release cases. We also serve surrounding cities in Dakota County and throughout Minnesota and Wisconsin.
