Legal Q&A
“If prisoners break the law in prison, does it get taken to the police and the courts?”
Ethan Cassidy
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Legal Corner
Answer by Volunteer Barristers for About Time
Yes. If it is alleged that you have committed an offence in custody, you may be charged by police and the matter could go through the courts like any other offence.
If you are accused of committing an offence while you are in prison, it may be dealt with through an internal disciplinary process in the prison or it may go through the courts like an alleged offence in the community would.
This will likely depend on the seriousness of the alleged offence.
If this happens, it is important for you to get legal advice.
If you are charged with breaking a rule in prison, this can result in disciplinary action, in addition to potential criminal charges.
You have the right to a fair disciplinary hearing. In this hearing, a hearing officer will tell you about the procedure in the hearing, read the charge out to you and give you an opportunity to plead guilty or not guilty.
How the rest of the hearing will play out depends on whether you plead guilty or not guilty.
If you plead guilty, you will then be able to make a plea about what penalty you should receive, something that is called “submissions”. In submissions, you can talk about why the offence happened, what was happening to you at the time it happened and whether it’s the first time you have been in trouble for something like this.
If you plead not guilty, the hearing officer will likely then hear from witnesses, look at relevant information and listen to arguments on both sides. They will then make a decision about whether the prison offence occurred or not.
If you attend this hearing, you will have a chance to respond and present your own evidence.
Date Published
September 3, 2025
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