PRINTER'S NO. 4405
No. 2780 Session of 2008
INTRODUCED BY GIBBONS, SEPTEMBER 23, 2008
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON JUDICIARY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2008
AN ACT
1 Amending Title 42 (Judiciary and Judicial Procedure) of the
2 Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes, in juvenile matters,
3 further providing for limitation on and change in place of
4 confinement; and, in State intermediate punishment, further
5 providing for definitions and for drug offender treatment
6 program.
7 The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
8 hereby enacts as follows:
9 Section 1. Section 6353(b) of Title 42 of the Pennsylvania
10 Consolidated Statutes is amended to read:
11 § 6353. Limitation on and change in place of commitment.
12 * * *
13 (b) Transfer to other institution.--After placement of the
14 child, and if his progress with the institution warrants it, the
15 institution may seek to transfer the child to a less secure
16 facility, including a [group home or] foster boarding home. The
17 institution shall give the committing court written notice of
18 all requests for transfer and shall give the attorney for the
19 Commonwealth written notice of a request for transfer from a
1 secure facility to another facility. If the court, or in the
2 case of a request to transfer from a secure facility, the
3 attorney for the Commonwealth, does not object to the request
4 for transfer within ten days after the receipt of such notice,
5 the transfer may be effectuated. If the court, or in the case of
6 a request to transfer from a secure facility, the attorney for
7 the Commonwealth, objects to the transfer, the court shall hold
8 a hearing within 20 days after objecting to the transfer for the
9 purpose of reviewing the commitment order. The institution shall
10 be notified of the scheduled hearing, at which hearing evidence
11 may be presented by any interested party on the issue of the
12 propriety of the transfer. If the institution seeks to transfer
13 to a more secure facility the child shall have a full hearing
14 before the committing court. At the hearing, the court may
15 reaffirm or modify its commitment order.
16 * * *
17 Section 2. The definition of "group home" in section 9903 of
18 Title 42 is repealed:
19 § 9903. Definitions.
20 The following words and phrases when used in this chapter
21 shall have the meanings given to them in this section unless the
22 context clearly indicates otherwise:
23 * * *
24 ["Group home." A residential program that is contracted out
25 by the Department of Corrections to a private service provider
26 for inmates with prerelease status or who are on parole.]
27 * * *
28 Section 3. Section 9905(b)(3) of Title 42 is amended to
29 read:
30 § 9905. Drug offender treatment program.
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1 * * *
2 (b) Duration and components.--Notwithstanding any credit to
3 which the defendant may be entitled under section 9760 (relating
4 to credit for time served), the duration of the drug offender
5 treatment program shall be 24 months and shall include the
6 following:
7 * * *
8 (3) A period of at least six months' treatment through
9 an outpatient addiction treatment facility. During the
10 outpatient addiction treatment period of the drug offender
11 treatment program, the participant may be housed in a
12 community corrections center [or group home] or placed in an
13 approved transitional residence. The participant must comply
14 with any conditions established by the department regardless
15 of where the participant resides during the outpatient
16 addiction treatment portion of the drug offender treatment
17 program.
18 * * *
19 Section 4. This act shall take effect in 60 days.
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