Chapter III: Courts for the enforcement of sentences

When the public prosecutor is in favour of granting a sentence adjustment measure requested by the sentenced person, he or she may address written submissions to the sentence enforcement judge asking him or her to grant this measure without proceeding to an adversarial debate, in accordance with the provisions of the second paragraph of article 712-6. If the offender and his lawyer do not request an adversarial hearing, the sentence…

The number and day of hearings of the sentence enforcement judge and the sentence enforcement court are set by joint decision of the president of the judicial court and the public prosecutor. The decisions provided for in this article are taken, after the opinion of the general assembly of the court, at the end of the judicial year for the following judicial year, and may, if necessary, be modified during…

The judgement is handed down in chambers. If the judgement is handed down immediately, a copy of the judgement is given to the convicted person and, where applicable, to his lawyer, against a signature in the proceedings file except in cases where the copy of the judgement is not immediately available. If the decision has been taken under advisement, the judgment is notified to the convicted person in custody by…

Where the sentenced person who is not in custody does not appear for the adversarial hearing, the judge or the sentence enforcement court shall either order that the hearing be postponed to a later date, after having, if necessary, issued a warrant to bring in or arrest the person in accordance with the provisions of Article 712-17 or a search note in accordance with the provisions of Article D. 49-20,…

Without prejudice to the possibility of issuing a bring or arrest warrant in accordance with the provisions of Article 712-17, the sentence enforcement judge and court may issue a search note designed to enable the sentenced person to be located, which is circulated in the wanted persons file in accordance with the provisions of 1° of I of l’article 23 de la loi n° 2003-239 du 18 mars 2003 pour…

The orders provided for by articles 712-5 and 712-8 are notified to the convicted offender in custody by the head of the prison, who gives him or her a copy in return for a signature; if the convicted offender is not in custody, a copy of the order is sent to him or her by registered letter; a copy of the order is also sent by registered letter or fax…

When the head of the establishment or the director of the prison integration and probation service changes the timetable of a sentence adjustment with the authorisation of the sentence enforcement judge in accordance with the provisions of the second paragraph of article 712-8, it shall immediately inform the sentence enforcement judge and the offender by any means.

For the application of the provisions of Article 712-9, if the sentenced person has not made a declaration of address to the sentence enforcement judge, the address in the proceedings file is deemed to be their declared address. The declaration of address or the declaration of a change of address must be made either by declaration to the clerk of the sentence enforcement judge, or by registered letter with a…

For the application of Article 712-21, the sentence enforcement judge or court may, with the agreement of the public prosecutor, state, by reasoned order or judgment, that there is no need to order a new psychiatric assessment prior to a decision to adjust the sentence, if there is an assessment in the sentenced person’s file that is less than two years old, including if it was carried out prior to…

Without prejudice to the obligation to carry out an expert assessment of sentenced persons covered by the provisions of Article 712-21, the sentence enforcement judge or court may, in accordance with the provisions of Article D. 574, ask the prison integration and probation service to carry out a socio-educational summary of the convicted prisoner before his release, in order to assess his dangerousness and the risk of re-offending. To this…