A prisoner serving a custodial sentence in two different member states may only benefit from the rules on reducing a sentence under the law of the State in which he or she is currently serving, according to the Court of Justice of the EU.
This case (C-554/14) concerns a Bulgarian prisoner sentenced to 15 years' imprisonment in Denmark for aggravated robbery and murder. Before his transfer to Bulgaria to finish his sentence, he spent one year and nine months in a Danish prison, where he worked for around ten months. Working in prison entitles prisoners to a reduction of their sentences in Bulgaria, but not in Denmark. Under these circumstances, can the person in question deduct the days worked in the Danish prison from the tariff remaining to be served in Bulgaria?
The Court reached the same conclusion as Advocate General Yves Bot did in May (see EUROPE 11545): a prisoner's sentence may not be reduced, upon transfer from one member state to another, on the basis of time spent working in prison in the first member state if that state did not, in application of its own national laws, grant a sentence reduction of this kind. This is because it is solely within the jurisdiction of the member state of issuance to determine sentence reductions relating to the period of custody served on its territory. (Original version in French by Jan Kordys)