What is the effect of full parole for an offender who has been on full parole under section 128 of the Criminal Code?

20 At the end of this process of observation and review, full parole may be granted. The granting of full parole does not amount to a reduction of the jail sentence. The offender is still serving his or her sentence until the end of the term. Our Court has defined such a decision as an alteration of the conditions under which the sentence is being served (Cunningham v. Canada, 1993 CanLII 139 (SCC), [1993] 2 S.C.R. 143, at pp. 150-51, per McLachlin J. (as she then was); M. (C.A.), supra, at para. 61). At the same time, under s. 128 of the Act, the offender on full parole is entitled to remain at large and is not obliged to live within the four walls of the correctional institution. Although the sentence is not over and measures of supervision remain in place, full parole grants an offender a very substantial degree of personal freedom. As mentioned above, this process generally used to fall outside the functions of the sentencing courts, which did not have to concern themselves about parole eligibility, its conditions and its supervision.