PRINTER'S NO. 1455
No. 1273 Session of 1987
INTRODUCED BY BUNT, McHALE, NOYE, TRELLO, HAGARTY, ACOSTA,
JADLOWIEC, CARLSON, FOX, GANNON, PHILLIPS, FLICK, GEIST,
RAYMOND, DISTLER, HECKLER, PERZEL, J. TAYLOR, E. Z. TAYLOR,
NAHILL, BELARDI, KENNEY, GODSHALL, SAURMAN AND CORNELL,
MAY 4, 1987
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON JUDICIARY, MAY 4, 1987
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," further providing for parole violations and
18 for the powers and duties of the Pennsylvania Board of
19 Probation and Parole; and making editorial changes.
20 The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
21 hereby enacts as follows:
22 Section 1. The act of August 6, 1941 (P.L.861, No.323),
23 referred to as the Pennsylvania Board of Probation and Parole
24 Law, is amended by adding a section to read:
25 Section 1.1. The following terms shall, unless the context
1 otherwise indicates, have the following respective meanings:
2 The term "firearm" means any weapon, including a starter gun,
3 which will, or is designed to, or may readily be converted to
4 expel a projectile by the action of an explosive or by the
5 expansion of gas in the weapon.
6 Section 2. Section 21.1 of the act, amended June 28, 1957
7 (P.L.429, No.235), is amended to read:
8 Section 21.1. (a) Convicted Violators. Any parolee under
9 the jurisdiction of the Pennsylvania Board of Parole released
10 from any penal institution of the Commonwealth who, during the
11 period of parole or while delinquent on parole, commits any
12 crime punishable by imprisonment, for which he is convicted or
13 found guilty by a judge or jury or to which he pleads guilty or
14 nolo contendere at any time thereafter in a court of record,
15 may, at the discretion of the board, be recommitted as a parole
16 violator; however, if the crime committed by the parolee while
17 on parole constitutes a crime of violence, as defined in 18
18 Pa.C.S. 6102 (relating to definitions), the parolee shall be
19 recommitted as a parole violator. If his recommitment is so
20 ordered, he shall be reentered to serve the remainder of the
21 term which said parolee would have been compelled to serve had
22 he not been paroled, and he shall be given no credit for the
23 time at liberty on parole. The board may, in its discretion,
24 reparole whenever, in its opinion, the best interests of the
25 prisoner justify or require his release on parole and it does
26 not appear that the interests of the Commonwealth will be
27 injured thereby; however, a prisoner recommitted as a convicted
28 parole violator for a crime of violence may not be reparoled.
29 The period of time for which the parole violator is required to
30 serve shall be computed from and begin on the date that he is
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1 taken into custody to be returned to the institution as a parole
2 violator.
3 If a new sentence is imposed upon such parolee, the service
4 of the balance of said term originally imposed shall precede the
5 commencement of the new term imposed in the following cases:
6 (1) If a person is paroled from any State penal or
7 correctional institution under the control and supervision of
8 the Department of [Justice] Corrections and the new sentence
9 imposed upon him is to be served in any such State penal or
10 correctional institution.
11 (2) If a person is paroled from a county penal or
12 correctional institution and the new sentence imposed upon him
13 is to be served in the same county penal or correctional
14 institution.
15 In all other cases, the service of the new term for the
16 latter crime shall precede commencement of the balance of the
17 term originally imposed.
18 Where the new term is to be served last, or the balance of
19 the term originally imposed is to be served last, and such
20 service is, in either case, to be had in any penal or
21 correctional institution under the control and supervision of
22 the Department of [Justice] Corrections, any male person upon
23 recommitment shall be sent to the nearest Correctional
24 Diagnostic and Classification Center for service of the
25 remainder of the original term at such institution as shall be
26 designated by the Deputy Commissioner for Treatment of the
27 [Bureau of Correction] Department of Corrections. Any female
28 person shall be recommitted to the [State Industrial Home for
29 Women at Muncy] custody of the Department of Corrections.
30 (b) Technical Violators. Any parolee under the jurisdiction
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1 of the Pennsylvania Board of Parole released from any penal
2 institution in the Commonwealth who, during the period of
3 parole, violates the terms and conditions of his parole, other
4 than by the commission of a new crime of which he is convicted
5 or found guilty by a judge or jury or to which he pleads guilty
6 or nolo contendere in a court of record, or who, during the
7 period of parole, is in possession of a firearm may be
8 recommitted after hearing before the board. If he is so
9 recommitted, he shall be given credit for the time served on
10 parole in good standing but with no credit for delinquent time,
11 and may be reentered to serve the remainder of his original
12 sentence or sentences. A parolee recommitted as a technical
13 violator for the possession of a firearm shall be recommitted to
14 serve the remainder of the original sentence or sentences. Said
15 remainder shall be computed by the board from the time his
16 delinquent conduct occurred for the unexpired period of the
17 maximum sentence imposed by the court without credit for the
18 period the parolee was delinquent on parole, and he shall be
19 required to serve such remainder so computed from the date he is
20 taken into custody on the warrant of the board. Such prisoner
21 shall be subject to reparole by the board, except where the
22 parolee has been recommitted as a technical violator for
23 possession of a firearm, whenever in its opinion the best
24 interests of the prisoner justify or require his being reparoled
25 and it does not appear that the interests of the Commonwealth
26 will be injured thereby. A parolee recommitted as a technical
27 violator for possession of a firearm may not be reparoled.
28 (c) Recommitment. Technical violators shall be recommitted
29 for service of the balance of said term originally imposed to
30 penal or correctional institutions as follows:
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1 (1) If paroled from a county penal or correctional
2 institution, to the same institution or to any other institution
3 to which legally transferred.
4 (2) If paroled from the [Pennsylvania Industrial School]
5 State Correctional Institution at Camp Hill and upon
6 recommitment such person has not attained the age of twenty-one
7 years, to the same institution.
8 (3) If paroled from the [State Industrial Home for Women]
9 Correctional Institution at Muncy or from the State Correctional
10 Institution at Greensburg, to the same institution.
11 (4) If paroled from any other State penal or correctional
12 institution under the control and supervision of the Department
13 of [Justice] Corrections, to the nearest Correctional Diagnostic
14 and Classification Center wherein the person shall be classified
15 for service of the balance of the term in such institution as
16 shall be designated by the Deputy Commissioner for Treatment in
17 the [Bureau of Correction] Department of Corrections.
18 Section 3. The act is amended by adding a section to read:
19 Section 21.2. No individual on parole may own or possess a
20 firearm.
21 Section 4. Section 3 (section 21.2) shall apply to all
22 individuals on parole, regardless of whether they were paroled
23 before or after the effective date of this act.
24 Section 5. This act shall take effect in 60 days.
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