PRINTER'S NO. 1572
No. 1369 Session of 1997
INTRODUCED BY L. I. COHEN, DALEY, LEDERER, ROEBUCK, SURRA,
BELARDI, TRELLO, JAMES, WAUGH, TIGUE, BARD, McGILL, SAYLOR,
RAMOS, BROWNE, MAITLAND, DeLUCA AND STEELMAN, APRIL 17, 1997
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON JUDICIARY, APRIL 17, 1997
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 June 1, 1995 (1st Sp.Sess., P.L.1020,
14 No.16), is 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
18 said 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.
26 (b) The basic skills exception under subsection (a) shall
27 apply to convicts confined under a sentence of five years or
28 less who do not demonstrate one and one-half years' progress in
29 the acquisition of basic skills in each year of confinement. The
30 basic skills exception shall not apply to individuals who are in
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1 the custody of the Department of Corrections for less than one
2 year, to individuals whose minimum sentence expires within one
3 year of the effective date of this subsection, to individuals
4 who can demonstrate the basic skills or to individuals who have
5 been determined by the Bureau of Correction Education to be so
6 educationally or mentally retarded as to be unable to learn the
7 basic skills at the required levels.
8 (c) The power to parole herein granted to the [Board of
9 Parole] board may not be exercised in the board's discretion at
10 any time before, but only after, the expiration of the minimum
11 term of imprisonment fixed by the court in its sentence or by
12 the [Pardon] Board of Pardons in a sentence which has been
13 reduced by commutation. The board may not release a person on
14 parole unless the person achieves a negative result within one
15 week prior to the date of release in a screening test approved
16 by the Department of Health for the detection of the presence of
17 controlled substances or designer drugs under the act of April
18 14, 1972 (P.L.233, No.64), known as "The Controlled Substance,
19 Drug, Device and Cosmetic Act." The cost of these pre-parole
20 drug screening tests for inmates subject to the parole release
21 jurisdiction of the board, whether confined in a State or local
22 correctional facility, shall be paid by the board. The board
23 shall establish rules and regulations for the payment of these
24 costs and may limit the types and cost of these screening tests
25 that would be subject to payment by the board. The board shall
26 establish, as a condition of continued parole for a parolee who,
27 as an inmate, tested positive for the presence of a controlled
28 substance or a designer drug or who was paroled from a sentence
29 arising from a conviction under "The Controlled Substance, Drug,
30 Device and Cosmetic Act," or from a drug-related crime, the
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1 parolee's achievement of negative results in such screening
2 tests randomly applied. The random screening tests shall be
3 performed at the discretion of the board, and the parolee
4 undergoing the tests shall be responsible for the costs of the
5 tests. The funds collected for the tests shall be applied
6 against the contract for such testing between the board and a
7 testing laboratory approved by the Department of Health. Said
8 board shall have the power during the period for which a person
9 shall have been sentenced to recommit one paroled for violation
10 of the terms and conditions of his parole and from time to time
11 to reparole and recommit in the same manner and with the same
12 procedure as in the case of an original parole or recommitment,
13 if, in the judgment of the said board, there is a reasonable
14 probability that the convict will be benefited by again
15 according him liberty and it does not appear that the interests
16 of the Commonwealth will be injured thereby.
17 (d) As used in this section, the following words and phrases
18 shall have the meanings given to them in this subsection:
19 "Adult functional literacy proficiency." The ability to
20 apply basic skills to adult tasks of daily living.
21 "Basic skills." The ability to demonstrate marginal literacy
22 on a test of adult functional literacy proficiency or to
23 demonstrate significant progress, consonant with the term of
24 confinement, in the attainment of marginal literacy.
25 Section 2. The Bureau of Correction Education in the
26 Department of Education, the Department of Corrections and the
27 Pennsylvania Board of Probation and Parole shall jointly
28 formulate and promulgate regulations to administer the basic
29 skills provisions of this act.
30 Section 3. The sum of $1,000,000, or as much thereof as may
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1 be necessary, is hereby appropriated to the Bureau of Correction
2 Education in the Department of Education for the current fiscal
3 year to ensure the attainment of marginal literacy by
4 prospective parolees.
5 Section 4. This act shall take effect in 60 days.
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