PRINTER'S NO. 1699
No. 1471 Session of 1979
INTRODUCED BY DORR, O'DONNELL, SPENCER, ANDERSON AND LEHR,
JUNE 6, 1979
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON JUDICIARY, JUNE 6, 1979
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 certain notices prior
18 to the granting of any hearing on an application for parole.
19 The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
20 hereby enacts as follows:
21 Section 1. Section 22, act of August 6, 1941 (P.L.861,
22 No.323), referred to as the Pennsylvania Board of Probation and
23 Parole Law, amended May 27, 1943 (P.L.767, No.324), is amended
24 to read:
25 Section 22. The board shall have the power, subject to the
26 provisions and limitations set forth in section twenty-one, to
1 grant paroles of its own motion whenever in its judgment the
2 interests of justice require the granting of the same. In
3 addition thereto, the board shall have the power, and it shall
4 be its duty, to consider applications for parole by a prisoner
5 or by his attorney, relatives or friends or by any person
6 properly interested in the matter. Hearings of applications
7 shall be held by the board whenever in its judgment hearings are
8 necessary. Reasonable rules and regulations shall be adopted by
9 the board for the presentation and hearing of applications for
10 parole: Provided, however, That whenever any prisoner is paroled
11 by the board, whether of its own motion or after hearing of an
12 application therefor, or whenever an application for parole is
13 refused by the board, a brief statement of the reasons for the
14 board's action shall be filed of record in the offices of the
15 board and shall be at all reasonable times open to public
16 inspection; in no case shall a parole be granted, or an
17 application for parole be dismissed, unless a district
18 supervisor shall have seen and heard him in person in regard
19 thereto within six months prior to the granting or dismissal
20 thereof. Application shall be disposed of by the board within
21 six months of the filing thereof. Except in cases where the
22 Pardon Board has reduced a minimum term by commutation, the
23 board shall initially act on the application, if possible,
24 before the expiration of the minimum term so fixed, and in no
25 case more than thirty days thereafter.
26 In granting and revoking paroles, and in discharging from
27 parole, the members of the board acting thereon shall not be
28 required to personally hear or see all the witnesses and
29 evidence submitted to them for their action, but they may act on
30 report submitted to them by their agents and employes, together
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1 with any pertinent and adequate information furnished to them by
2 fellow members of the board or by others.
3 At least fifteen and not more than thirty days prior to any
4 hearing on an application for parole, the board shall have
5 published twice in the official journal of the county where the
6 crime occurred a notice stating that a hearing will be held on
7 the application of said person for parole. The notice shall
8 contain the name of the applicant, the date of the alleged
9 offense, the date of conviction, the crime of which the person
10 was convicted, the sentence in the case, the amount of time
11 served and the date and location of the parole hearing. This
12 same notice shall, within the time periods specified, be sent by
13 registered or certified mail to the court which sentenced the
14 applicant, the district attorney of the county where the offense
15 occurred and of the place where the applicant resided prior to
16 arrest and to the police department which made the arrest. No
17 applicant for parole shall be given a hearing on a parole
18 application until the requirements of this paragraph have been
19 met.
20 At least ten days before paroling a prisoner on its own
21 motion the board shall give written notice of such contemplated
22 parole to the district attorney of the county wherein the
23 prisoner shall have been sentenced[, and, in cases of hearings
24 on applications for parole as herein provided for, at least ten
25 days written notice of the time and place fixed for such hearing
26 shall be given either by the board or by the applicant, as the
27 board shall direct, to the court and district attorney of the
28 county wherein the applicant shall have been sentenced].
29 Section 2. This act shall take effect in 60 days and shall
30 apply to all hearings held on or after the effective date of
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1 this act.
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