Guidance on organizing educational programs for inmates who are about to completely serve their full prison sentences in Vietnam from November 15, 2024

Guidance on organizing educational programs for inmates who are about to completely serve their full prison sentences in Vietnam from November 15, 2024 (Image from the Internet)

On September 30, 2024, the Government of Vietnam issued Decree 118/2024/ND-CP guiding the Law on Execution of Criminal Judgments 2019.

Guidance on organizing educational programs for inmates who are about to completely serve their full prison sentences in Vietnam from November 15, 2024

According to the provision at point c, clause 1, Article 12 of Decree 118/2024/ND-CP, the organization of educational programs for inmates who are about to completely serve their full prison sentences in Vietnam is conducted as follows:

Inmates who are about to completely serve their full prison sentences in Vietnam (including those reviewed by the Inter-sector Assessment Team of the Amnesty Advisory Council, deemed eligible for amnesty proposals; those with dossiers submitted for conditional early release, or inmates with dossiers submitted for full reduction of remaining prison sentence periods) are informed and taught the following contents:

+ Policies and legal regulations on reintegration into the community;

+ Some basic contents of the Law on Residence 2020, Law on Citizen Identification 2014, Law on Road Traffic 2008, Law on Inland Waterway Traffic 2004, Cybersecurity Law 2018, Law on Handling Administrative Violations 2012;

+ Regulations on recidivism, dangerous recidivism, criminal record expungement;

+ Regulations on security protection, order maintenance, crime prevention, and social evils;

+ Some contents on moral values, life skills.

In addition to the aforementioned contents, for inmates with dossiers submitted for conditional early release, the facility holding the inmate organizes the dissemination and study of regulations on the rights and obligations of those granted conditional early release; for inmates reviewed by the Inter-sector Assessment Team of the Amnesty Advisory Council and deemed eligible for amnesty, the detention facility organizes the study of regulations on the rights and obligations of those granted amnesty.

The dissemination and study period is from 05 to 07 days from the start of the class, held during the period inmates prepare to complete their prison sentences or before implementing decisions on amnesty, conditional early release, and full reduction of remaining imprisonment. Each class shall not exceed 100 inmates.

Additionally, foreign inmates are informed of the laws of the State of Vietnam concerning their rights and obligations during incarceration; international treaties related to the rights and obligations of inmates to which Vietnam and their home countries are members, and bilateral agreements between Vietnam and their home countries related to the execution of criminal sentences.

Depending on their level of Vietnamese language comprehension, foreign inmates might be educated, informed in Vietnamese, English, or provided translated documents for study; foreign inmates are encouraged to learn Vietnamese to independently study legal dissemination and civic education programs similar to other inmates. Educational content and materials on citizenship education and legal dissemination can be translated into English or the language of the inmate's nationality. (According to clause 3, Article 12 of Decree 118/2024/ND-CP)

More details can be found in Decree 118/2024/ND-CP which comes into force in Vietnam from November 15, 2024.

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