Last updated 2 September 2019

The chief executive may grant an order for leave of absence to an incarcerated person for any one of a number of purposes, including community service, compassionate purposes (e.g. to attend a funeral or visit a seriously ill family member (s 73 Corrective Services Act 2006 (Qld) (Corrective Services Act)), educational or vocational activities, medical, dental or optical treatment (health leave), or another purpose that justifies the granting of leave (s 72 Corrective Services Act).

Potential contact with victims can be taken into account when considering whether to grant a leave of absence (LOA). Most LOAs will be supervised by a prison officer.

Where it is suspected that a person has not complied with an LOA order or Queensland Corrective Services (QCS) reasonably suspects the person poses a serious and immediate risk of harm either to themselves or someone else, the order may be suspended and the person returned to secure custody. If there is no serious and immediate risk of harm to someone else, notification must be given prior to return to custody (s 85 Corrective Services Act).

There are no internal appeal procedures by which people can challenge decisions to revoke an LOA order or to return them to secure custody. However, the usual rules of procedural fairness still apply to such decisions, and people should be given an opportunity to answer allegations against them, even if that opportunity is given after they have been returned to a secure custody centre because of the security risk they are perceived to represent.