Intermittent sentence (“weekends”)
An intermittent sentence is a jail sentence that the offender serves in ”chunks” of time, instead of all at once.
For example, if an offender gets an intermittent sentence, they may go jail on the weekends, (i.e., Friday night until Monday morning) but be out of jail during the week.
This continues until the sentence is finished. For this reason, intermittent sentences are sometimes called “weekends,” but they don’t necessarily have to be served on weekends. For example, a judge may let an offender serve an intermittent sentence by being in jail from Monday until Friday and being out of jail on weekends.
When an offender serving an intermittent sentence is not in jail, they are on a probation order.
An intermittent sentence can only happen if the judge imposes a sentence of 90 days or less.
To get an intermittent sentence, the offender will usually have to show the judge that they have a job or other significant responsibilities (e.g., child care) which would make it very hard to serve a regular jail sentence. Judges are also unlikely to give an intermittent sentence to an offender that has a criminal record that includes charges such as breach of probation or fail to comply with recognizance.