The Convention is intended to facilitate social rehabilitation of prisoners by providing foreigners convicted of a criminal offence the possibility of serving their sentences in their home countries.
[2] Humanitarian considerations also played a role in the drafting of the Convention, since factors such as language barriers resulting in difficulties with communication and distance from family and friends can constitute an impediment to social rehabilitation.
It defines a sentence as "any punishment or measure involving deprivation of liberty ordered by a court for a limited or unlimited period of time on account of a criminal offence".
[7] Article 12 provides each party to the Convention the possibility to grant pardon or commutation of the sentence in accordance with its constitution or domestic laws.
[8] For European Union nationals sentenced in another EU country, the similarly worded Council Framework Decision 2008/909/JHA applies instead of this Convention.