1 HB110
2 212159-3
3 By Representative Hill
4 RFD: Judiciary
5 First Read: 02-FEB-21
6 PFD: 01/26/2021
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1
2 ENROLLED, An Act,
3 Relating to parole and probation; to amend Sections
4 15-22-29, 15-22-32, 15-22-52, and 15-22-54, as last amended by
5 Act 2019-513, 2019 Regular Session, Code of Alabama 1975; to
6 revise the limitations on confinement and location of
7 confinement for parole and probation violators; to revise the
8 circumstances when a parolee or probationer's parole or
9 probation may be revoked; to provide that the Department of
10 Corrections must reimburse the county commission for health
11 care costs of state parolees and probationers in certain
12 circumstances; to require the Department of Corrections to
13 designate county jails for the confinement of parole and
14 probation violators; to provide that the Board of Pardons and
15 Paroles may establish and maintain residential transition
16 centers and to provide for the operation of the facilities; to
17 provide that a parole or probation violator may get credit for
18 any time served in custody in certain circumstances; to amend
19 Section 14-3-30, Code of Alabama 1975, to require the court or
20 the court clerk to provide electronic notification to the
21 Department of Corrections when a defendant is sentenced to the
22 custody of the department; to require the Department of
23 Corrections, in agreement with a county commission and the
24 sheriff, to select county jails to provide for the housing and
25 care of parole and probation violators; to provide for the
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1 selection process of the county jails; and to make
2 nonsubstantive, technical revisions to update the existing
3 code language to current style.
4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF ALABAMA:
5 Section 1. Sections 15-22-29, 15-22-32, 15-22-52,
6 and 15-22-54, as last amended by Act 2019-513, 2019 Regular
7 Session, Code of Alabama 1975, are amended to read as follows:
8 "15-22-29.
9 "(a) The Board of Pardons and Paroles, in releasing
10 a prisoner on parole, shall specify in writing the conditions
11 of his or her parole, and a copy of such the conditions shall
12 be given to the parolee. A violation of such parolee who
13 violates the conditions of parole may render the prisoner
14 liable be subject to arrest and reimprisonment.
15 "(b) The Board of Pardons and Paroles shall adopt
16 general rules with regard to regarding the conditions of
17 parole and their violation and may make special rules to
18 govern particular cases. Such The rules, both general and
19 special, shall include, among other things, a requirement that
20 but are not limited to, all of the following:
21 "(1) The parolee shall not leave the state without
22 the consent of the board;.
23 "(2) He or she The parolee shall contribute to the
24 support of his or her dependents to the best of his or her
25 ability;.
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1 "(3) He or she The parolee shall make reparation or
2 restitution for his or her crime;.
3 "(4) He or she The parolee shall abandon evil
4 associates and ways; avoid persons or places of disreputable
5 or harmful character.
6 "(5) He or she The parolee shall carry out follow
7 the instructions of his or her parole officer and in general
8 so comport himself or herself as such the officer shall
9 determine; and.
10 "(6) He or she The parolee shall submit to
11 behavioral treatment, substance abuse treatment, GPS
12 monitoring, or any other treatment as deemed necessary by the
13 board or the supervising parole officer, and/or a period or
14 periods of confinement in a consenting jail facility. Periods
15 of confinement imposed by the supervising parole officer shall
16 not exceed six days per month during any three separate months
17 during the period of parole. The six days per month
18 confinement provided for in this subdivision shall only be
19 imposed by the supervising parole officer as two-day or
20 three-day consecutive periods at any single time. In no event
21 shall the total periods of confinement imposed by the
22 supervising parole officer provided for in this subdivision
23 exceed 18 total days in a consenting jail facility.
24 Confinement provided herein shall be subject to the
25 limitations, provisions, and conditions provided in Section
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1 15-22-32, and the board's authority to directly impose
2 sanctions, periods of confinement, or revoke parole shall not
3 otherwise be limited.
4 "(7) The parolee may not buy, own, or possess a
5 firearm in violation of federal law or in violation of Section
6 13A-11-72.
7 "15-22-32.
8 "(a) Whenever there is reasonable cause to believe
9 that a prisoner who has been paroled has violated his or her
10 parole, the Board of Pardons and Paroles, at its next meeting,
11 may declare the prisoner parolee to be delinquent, and time
12 owed shall date from the delinquency. The Department of
13 Corrections, after receiving notice from the sheriff of the
14 county jail where the state prisoner parolee is being held,
15 shall promptly notify the board of the return of a paroled
16 prisoner parolee charged with violation of his or her parole.
17 Thereupon, the The board, a single member of the board, a
18 parole revocation hearing officer, or a designated parole
19 officer shall hold a parole court at the prison or at another
20 place as it may determine within 20 business days and consider
21 the case of the parole violator, who. The parolee shall be
22 given an opportunity to appear personally or by counsel before
23 the board or the parole court and to produce witnesses, and
24 explain the charges made against him or her. The board member,
25 parole revocation hearing officer, or a designated parole
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1 officer, acting as a parole court, shall determine whether
2 sufficient evidence supports the violation charges. If a
3 hearing is not held within the specified 20 business days, the
4 parolee shall be released back to parole supervision.
5 "(b) Upon finding sufficient evidence to support a
6 parole violation, the parole court may recommend to the board
7 revocation or reinstatement of parole, and the board may
8 revoke or reinstate parole. Upon revocation of parole, the
9 board may require the prisoner to serve in a state prison
10 facility the balance of the term for which he or she was
11 originally sentenced or any portion thereof, calculated from
12 the date of delinquency. The delinquent parolee shall be
13 deemed to begin serving the balance of the prison time
14 required on the date of his or her rearrest as a delinquent
15 parolee. However, in all cases, excluding violent offenses
16 defined pursuant to Section 12-25-32 and classified as a Class
17 A felony, and sex offenses, defined pursuant to Section
18 15-20A-5, the parole court may only recommend revocation and
19 the board may only revoke parole as provided below take any of
20 the following actions:
21 "(1)a. Unless If the underlying offense is was a
22 violent offense as defined in Section 12-25-32 and classified
23 as a Class A felony, when a parolee under supervision of the
24 Board of Pardons and Paroles has violated a condition of
25 parole, other than being a sex offense pursuant to Section
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1 15-20A-5, or aggravated theft by deception pursuant to Section
2 13A-8-2.1, the board shall revoke parole and require the
3 parolee to serve the balance of the term for which he or she
4 was originally sentenced, or any portion thereof, in a state
5 prison facility, calculated from the date of his or her
6 rearrest as a delinquent parolee.
7 "b. If the parole violation was for being arrested
8 or convicted of a new offense or absconding, the parole court
9 may recommend and the board may revoke parole and require the
10 parolee to serve the balance of the term for which he or she
11 was originally sentenced, or any portion thereof, in a state
12 prison facility, calculated from the date of his or her
13 rearrest as a delinquent parolee.
14 "c. For all other parolees, the board may impose a
15 period of confinement of no more than 45 consecutive days to
16 be served in the custody population of the Department of
17 Corrections. By April 29, 2016, the Department of Corrections
18 shall develop and implement a streamlined process to transport
19 and receive the parolee into its custody population and shall
20 identify and, if possible, implement policies aimed at
21 reducing the administrative delays, if any, in transferring to
22 the Department of Corrections the physical custody of the
23 parolee and those whose parole has been revoked. Such process
24 shall be developed in cooperation with the Alabama Sheriffs'
25 Association and the Association of County Commissions of
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1 Alabama. Such process shall include the most cost-effective
2 method to process sanctioned parole violators for the maximum
3 45 day confinement period and shall provide that the a
4 residential transition center established pursuant to Section
5 6 of the act adding this amendatory language or a consenting
6 county jail designated for this purpose as provided in Section
7 5 of the act adding this amendatory language. The parolee
8 shall be held in the county jail of the county in which the
9 revocation occurred while awaiting the revocation hearing. The
10 Department of Corrections shall reimburse the state mileage
11 rate to the county, as determined by the Alabama Comptroller's
12 Office, to the county for any state inmate sanctioned as
13 charged with, or sanctioned or revoked for, a parole violator
14 violation and who is transferred to or from a Department of
15 Corrections facility or to or from a consenting county jail by
16 the county.
17 "(2) Upon completion of the confinement period and
18 release from confinement, the parolee shall automatically
19 continue on parole for the remaining term of the sentence
20 without further action from the board. The parole court shall
21 may not recommend and the board shall may not revoke parole
22 unless the parolee has previously received a total of three
23 periods of confinement under this subsection. A parolee shall
24 receive only three total periods of confinement under pursuant
25 to this subsection. The maximum 45 day 45-day term of
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1 confinement ordered under pursuant to this subsection shall
2 not be reduced by credit for incarceration time already any
3 time served in the case. Confinement under this subsection in
4 custody prior to the imposition of the period of confinement
5 and shall be credited to the balance of the incarceration term
6 for which the parolee was originally sentenced. In the event
7 the time remaining on parole supervision is 45 days or less,
8 the term of confinement shall be for may not exceed the
9 remainder of the parolee's sentence.
10 "(2) (3) The total time spent in confinement under
11 this subsection shall may not exceed the term of the parolee's
12 original sentence.
13 "(3) (4) Confinement shall be immediate. The board
14 shall be responsible for ensuring ensure that the Department
15 of Corrections, a county jail, a residential transition
16 center, or a consenting county jail receives necessary
17 documentation for imposing a period of confinement within five
18 business days of the board's action.
19 "(4) (5) If the parolee is presented to a county
20 jail, excluding a consenting county jail designated for this
21 purpose, as provided in Section 5 of the act adding this
22 amendatory language, for any period of confinement as
23 contemplated hereinabove with a serious medical health
24 condition, if the admittance of the parolee would create a
25 security risk to the county jail, or if the county jail is
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1 near, at, or over capacity, the sheriff may refuse to admit
2 the parolee. If, while in custody of the county jail, the
3 parolee develops a serious medical health condition, if the
4 presence of the parolee creates a security risk to the county
5 jail, or if the county jail reaches near, at, or over
6 capacity, the sheriff may release the parolee upon
7 notification to the parole officer. A sheriff and his or her
8 staff employees in the county jail shall be immune from
9 liability for exercising discretion pursuant to Section
10 36-1-12 in refusing to admit a parolee into the jail or
11 releasing a parolee from jail under the circumstances
12 described above pursuant to this subdivision.
13 "(c) The position of Parole Revocation Hearing
14 Officer is created and established, subject to provisions of
15 the state Merit System.
16 "(d) The board may appoint or employ, as the board
17 deems necessary, hearing officers who shall conduct a parole
18 court. Such The hearing officers shall have authority to
19 determine the sufficiency of evidence to support parole
20 violation charges and recommend to the board revocation of
21 parole pursuant to subsection (b) or reinstatement of parole.
22 "(e) In lieu of the provisions of subsections (a)
23 and (b), when a parolee violates his or her parole terms and
24 conditions, his or her parole officer, after an administrative
25 review and approval by the parole officer's supervisor, may
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1 require the parolee to submit to behavioral impose any of the
2 following sanctions:
3 "(1) Mandatory behavior treatment,.
4 "(2) Mandatory substance abuse treatment,.
5 "(3) GPS monitoring, such.
6 "(4) Any other treatment as determined by the board
7 or supervising officer, or a.
8 "(5)a. A short period of confinement in a consenting
9 the county jail facility as specified in subdivision (6) of
10 subsection (b) of Section 15-22-29. The parole officer may
11 exercise such authority after administrative review and
12 approval by the officer's supervisor. of the county in which
13 the revocation occurred. Periods of confinement under this
14 subdivision may not exceed six days per month during any three
15 separate months during the period of parole. The six days per
16 month confinement periods may only be imposed as two-day or
17 three-day consecutive periods at any single time. The total
18 periods of confinement may not exceed nine total days.
19 "b. Confinement pursuant to this subdivision does
20 not limit the board's ability to directly impose sanctions,
21 periods of confinement, or revoke parole.
22 "(f)(1) Prior to imposing a sanction provided under
23 pursuant to subsection (e) and pursuant to subdivision (6) of
24 subsection (b) of Section 15-22-29, the parolee must first be
25 presented with a violation report, putting setting forth the
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1 alleged parole violations and supporting evidence. The parolee
2 may request a hearing before the parole court to be heard in
3 person within 10 days. The parolee shall be given notice of
4 the right to seek such parole court review and advised of the
5 right (i) to a hearing before a neutral and detached shall be
6 advised that he or she has all of the following rights:
7 "a. The right to have a parole court, in person or
8 by electronic means, on the alleged violation or violations,
9 with the. If a parole court is requested, no probationer shall
10 be held beyond 20 business days of the request. Only
11 requesting parolees posing a threat to public safety or a
12 flight risk shall be arrested while awaiting parole court.
13 "b. The right to present relevant witnesses and
14 documentary evidence; (ii).
15 "c. The right to retain and have counsel at the
16 hearing if he or she so desires; and (iii).
17 "d. The right to confront and cross examine any
18 adverse witnesses.
19 "(2) Upon the signing of a waiver of these rights by
20 the parolee and the supervising parole officer, with approval
21 of a supervisor, the parolee may be treated, monitored, or
22 confined for the period recommended in the violation report
23 and designated on the waiver. However, the The parolee shall
24 have no right of may not request a review if he or she has
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1 signed a written waiver of rights as provided in this
2 subsection.
3 "(g) The board shall adopt guidelines and procedures
4 to implement the requirements of this section, which shall
5 include the requirement of a supervisor's approval prior to
6 exercise of the delegation of authority authorized b