Criminal Code

Marginal note:Imprisonment for life or more than two years

• 743.1 (1) Except where otherwise provided, a person who is sentenced to imprisonment for

  • (a) life,

  • (b) a term of two years or more, or

  • (c) two or more terms of less than two years each that are to be served one after the other and that, in the aggregate, amount to two years or more,

  shall be sentenced to imprisonment in a penitentiary.

• Marginal note:Subsequent term less than two years

  (2) Where a person who is sentenced to imprisonment in a penitentiary is, before the expiration of that sentence, sentenced to imprisonment for a term of less than two years, the person shall serve that term in a penitentiary, but if the previous sentence of imprisonment in a penitentiary is set aside, that person shall serve that term in accordance with subsection (3).

• Marginal note:Imprisonment for term less than two years

  (3) A person who is sentenced to imprisonment and who is not required to be sentenced as provided in subsection (1) or (2) shall, unless a special prison is prescribed by law, be sentenced to imprisonment in a prison or other place of confinement, other than a penitentiary, within the province in which the person is convicted, in which the sentence of imprisonment may be lawfully executed.

• Marginal note:Long-term supervision

  (3.1) Notwithstanding subsection (3), an offender who is required to be supervised by an order made under paragraph 753.1(3)(b) and who is sentenced for another offence during the period of the supervision shall be sentenced to imprisonment in a penitentiary.

• Marginal note:Sentence to penitentiary of person serving sentence elsewhere

  (4) Where a person is sentenced to imprisonment in a penitentiary while the person is lawfully imprisoned in a place other than a penitentiary, that person shall, except where otherwise provided, be sent immediately to the penitentiary, and shall serve in the penitentiary the unexpired portion of the term of imprisonment that that person was serving when sentenced to the penitentiary as well as the term of imprisonment for which that person was sentenced to the penitentiary.

• Marginal note:Transfer to penitentiary

  (5) Where, at any time, a person who is imprisoned in a prison or place of confinement other than a penitentiary is subject to two or more terms of imprisonment, each of which is for less than two years, that are to be served one after the other, and the aggregate of the unexpired portions of those terms at that time amounts to two years or more, the person shall be transferred to a penitentiary to serve those terms, but if any one or more of such terms is set aside or reduced and the unexpired portions of the remaining term or terms on the day on which that person was transferred under this section amounted to less than two years, that person shall serve that term or terms in accordance with subsection (3).

• Marginal note:Newfoundland

  (6) For the purposes of subsection (3), “penitentiary” does not, until a day to be fixed by order of the Governor in Council, include the facility mentioned in subsection 15(2) of the Corrections and Conditional Release Act.