PRINTER'S NO. 1135
No. 995 Session of 2001
INTRODUCED BY L. I. COHEN, BROWNE, CLARK, GEIST, HENNESSEY,
HUTCHINSON, MELIO, R. MILLER, SAINATO, SAYLOR, TIGUE,
C. WILLIAMS AND WILT, MARCH 14, 2001
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON JUDICIARY, MARCH 14, 2001
AN ACT
1 Amending the act of August 6, 1941 (P.L.861, No.323), entitled,
2 as amended, "An act to create a uniform and exclusive system
3 for the administration of parole in this Commonwealth;
4 providing state probation services; establishing the
5 'Pennsylvania Board of Probation and Parole'; conferring and
6 defining its jurisdiction, duties, powers and functions;
7 including the supervision of persons placed upon probation
8 and parole in certain designated cases; providing for the
9 method of appointment of its members; regulating the
10 appointment, removal and discharge of its officers, clerks
11 and employes; dividing the Commonwealth into administrative
12 districts for purposes of probation and parole; fixing the
13 salaries of members of the board and of certain other
14 officers and employes thereof; making violations of certain
15 provisions of this act misdemeanors; providing penalties
16 therefor; and for other cognate purposes, and making an
17 appropriation," providing for a literacy requirement as a
18 condition of eligibility for parole; making an appropriation;
19 and making editorial changes.
20 The General Assembly finds and declares as follows:
21 (1) There are basic skills essential for adults to
22 acquire in order to cope with the demands of daily living and
23 to participate as productive members of society.
24 (2) Incarcerated individuals may be lacking in the basic
25 skills described in paragraph (1).
26 (3) It is in the best interest of society that parolees
1 acquire the basic skills described in paragraph (1) to insure
2 their coping with the demands of daily living and their
3 participation as productive members of society and to reduce
4 the risk of return to criminal activity.
5 (4) It is the long-term goal of the General Assembly
6 that, in the best interests of the Commonwealth, incarcerated
7 individuals who are eligible for release or parole attain an
8 eighth-grade level of reading.
9 The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
10 hereby enacts as follows:
11 Section 1. Section 21 of the act of August 6, 1941 (P.L.861,
12 No.323), referred to as the Pennsylvania Board of Probation and
13 Parole Law, amended December 21, 1998 (P.L.1077, No.143), is
14 amended to read:
15 Section 21. (a) The board is hereby authorized to release
16 on parole any convict confined in any penal institution of this
17 Commonwealth as to whom power to parole is herein granted to the
18 board, except convicts condemned to death or serving life
19 imprisonment and except convicts who do not, as determined by
20 the Bureau of Correction Education of the Department of
21 Education, the Department of Corrections and the board, acquire
22 basic skills, whenever in [its] the board's opinion the best
23 interests of the convict justify or require his being paroled
24 and it does not appear that the interests of the Commonwealth
25 will be injured thereby. Parole shall be subject in every
26 instance to the Commonwealth's right to immediately retake and
27 hold in custody without further proceedings any parolee charged
28 after his parole with an additional offense, until a
29 determination can be made whether to continue his parole status.
30 The power to parole herein granted to the [Board of Parole]
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1 board may not be exercised in the board's discretion at any time
2 before, but only after, the expiration of the minimum term of
3 imprisonment fixed by the court in its sentence or by the
4 [Pardon] Board of Pardons in a sentence which has been reduced
5 by commutation.
6 (a.1) The basic skills exception under subsection (a) shall
7 apply to convicts confined under a sentence of five years or
8 less who do not demonstrate one and one-half years' progress in
9 the acquisition of basic skills in each year of confinement. The
10 basic skills exception shall not apply to individuals who are in
11 the custody of the Department of Corrections for less than one
12 year, to individuals whose minimum sentence expires within one
13 year of the effective date of this subsection, to individuals
14 who can demonstrate the basic skills or to individuals who have
15 been determined by the Bureau of Correction Education to be so
16 educationally or mentally retarded as to be unable to learn the
17 basic skills at the required levels.
18 (b) The board may not release a person on parole unless the
19 person achieves a negative result within forty-five days prior
20 to the date of release in a screening test approved by the
21 Department of Health for the detection of the presence of
22 controlled substances or designer drugs under the act of April
23 14, 1972 (P.L.233, No.64), known as "The Controlled Substance,
24 Drug, Device and Cosmetic Act." The cost of these pre-parole
25 drug screening tests for inmates subject to the parole release
26 jurisdiction of the board, whether confined in a State or local
27 correctional facility, shall be paid by the board. The board
28 shall establish rules and regulations for the payment of these
29 costs and may limit the types and cost of these screening tests
30 that would be subject to payment by the board. The board shall
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1 establish, as a condition of continued parole for a parolee who,
2 as an inmate, tested positive for the presence of a controlled
3 substance or a designer drug or who was paroled from a sentence
4 arising from a conviction under "The Controlled Substance, Drug,
5 Device and Cosmetic Act," or from a drug-related crime, the
6 parolee's achievement of negative results in such screening
7 tests randomly applied. The random screening tests shall be
8 performed at the discretion of the board, and the parolee
9 undergoing the tests shall be responsible for the costs of the
10 tests. The funds collected for the tests shall be applied
11 against the contract for such testing between the board and a
12 testing laboratory approved by the Department of Health.
13 (b.1) The board may not release a person who is serving a
14 sentence for a crime of violence as defined in 42 Pa.C.S. §
15 9714(g) (relating to sentences for second and subsequent
16 offenses) on parole unless the person has received instruction
17 from the Department of Corrections on the impact of crime on
18 victims and the community.
19 (c) The board shall have the power during the period for
20 which a person shall have been sentenced to recommit one paroled
21 for violation of the terms and conditions of his parole and from
22 time to time to reparole and recommit in the same manner and
23 with the same procedure as in the case of an original parole or
24 recommitment, if, in the judgment of the board, there is a
25 reasonable probability that the convict will be benefited by
26 again according him liberty and it does not appear that the
27 interests of the Commonwealth will be injured thereby.
28 (d) When the board releases a parolee from a State or local
29 correctional facility, the board shall provide written notice to
30 the probation department located in the county where the
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1 sentencing order was imposed of the release and new address of
2 the parolee.
3 (e) As used in this section, the following words and phrases
4 shall have the meanings given to them in this subsection:
5 "Adult functional literacy proficiency." The ability to
6 apply basic skills to adult tasks of daily living.
7 "Basic skills." The ability to demonstrate marginal literacy
8 on a test of adult functional literacy proficiency or to
9 demonstrate significant progress, consonant with the term of
10 confinement, in the attainment of marginal literacy.
11 Section 2. The Bureau of Correction Education in the
12 Department of Education, the Department of Corrections and the
13 Pennsylvania Board of Probation and Parole shall jointly
14 formulate and promulgate regulations to administer the basic
15 skills provisions of this act.
16 Section 3. The sum of $1,000,000, or as much thereof as may
17 be necessary, is hereby appropriated to the Bureau of Correction
18 Education in the Department of Education for the current fiscal
19 year to ensure the attainment of marginal literacy by
20 prospective parolees.
21 Section 4. This act shall take effect in 60 days.
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