BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    



                                                                  AB 2295
                                                                  Page  1

          Date of Hearing:   April 20, 2010
          Counsel:        Gabriel Caswell


                         ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC SAFETY
                                 Tom Ammiano, Chair

                  AB 2295 (De La Torre) - As Amended:  April 6, 2010
           

          SUMMARY  :  Requires the Department of Corrections and  
          Rehabilitation (CDCR) to permanently retain all files prepared  
          by the Division of Adult Parole Operations regarding any person  
          who was paroled who has been imprisoned for committing a serious  
          felony or a violent felony or who is required to register as a  
          sex offender.  

           EXISTING LAW  :

          1)Provides that a parolee's parole terminates after the parole  
            has served the entire time of parole, when the parole  
            authority discharges the parolee from parole for good cause,  
            or by operation of law.  [Penal Code Sections 3000(b)(1)-(2),  
            and 3001.]  

          2)Depending on the commitment offense, a parolee must be  
            discharged within 30 days after the end of the first, second  
            or third continuous year on parole if the Board of Parole  
            Hearings does not order retention.  (Penal Code Section 3001.)

          3)Specifies that parole entails supervision and surveillance,  
            including the judicious use of revocation actions, and should  
            also include vocational, family, and personal counseling  
            necessary to assist parolees in the process.  [Penal Code  
            Section 3000(1).]  

          4)States that unless parole is waived by Board of Parole  
            Hearings for good cause, all prisoners must serve a period of  
            parole.  [Penal Code Section 3000(b).]  

          5)Specifies that nearly all determinately sentenced prisoners  
            are subject to three years of parole.  That period can be  
            extended to four years for misconduct that results in parole  
            revocation.  [Penal Code Sections 3000(b)(5), and 3057(a).]  









                                                                  AB 2295
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          6)States that ordinarily a prisoner is paroled to the county  
            that was his or her last legal residence before incarceration.  
             [Penal Code Section 3003(a).]  

           FISCAL EFFECT  :   Unknown

           COMMENTS  :   

           1)Author's Statement  :  According to the author, "[w]e have an  
            obligation to prioritize the retention of parole files that  
            could be of value to law enforcement in identifying and  
            apprehending dangerous individuals.  It defies logic that CDCR  
            policies require longer retention periods for expense receipts  
            and other minor documents than for parole agents' notes of  
            offenders' habits and behaviors.  AB 2295 will place parole  
            file retention requirements into statute to ensure that  
            important information related to dangerous offenders is  
            retained for use by law enforcement."  

           2)Background  :  According to the background submitted by the  
            author, "John Albert Gardner served a six-year prison sentence  
            for lewd and lascivious acts on a child under 14 and false  
            imprisonment.  He was then placed on parole for three years  
            and discharged in September 2008.  In February 2010, Gardner  
            was arrested in connection with the death of  
            seventeen-year-old Chelsea King who disappeared on February  
            25, 2010.  Gardner is also a suspect in the murder of  
            fourteen-year-old Amber Dubois who was last seen on February  
            13, 2009.

          "These tragic events and the surrounding investigation brought  
            to light the fact that CDCR Policy (DOM section 81090.8)  
            requires the destruction of parolee Field Files one year after  
            the individual is discharged from parole.  Gardner is a sex  
            offender who was discharged from parole on September 26, 2008.  
             According to CDCR policy at the time, his Field File would  
            have been destroyed on September 26, 2009.  On March 5, 2010,  
            CDCR issued a Fact Sheet to the public stating that the  
            suspect's parole file has been destroyed 'thus, there are no  
            documents related to him.'

          "On March 9, 2010, CDCR and Governor Schwarzenegger issued press  
            releases stating that CDCR's policy for the retention of  
            parolee Field Files had been changed.  According to CDCR,  
            'effective immediately' they would 'retain all documents  








                                                                  AB 2295
                                                                  Page  3

            related to the parole supervision of all sex offenders  
            indefinitely.'  Information provided by CDCR indicates that  
            the new policy was implemented on March 11, 2010.  

          "While some field documents are forwarded to the Department's  
            central file, other documents, such as parole agents' detailed  
            observations and records of interactions with parolees are  
            destroyed.  The destruction of parolee Field Files may impede  
            the work of law enforcement and place the public at risk  
            because it deprives law enforcement of valuable information  
            regarding the behavior and habits of a suspect."

           3)Parole Generally  :  The status of parole is granted to any  
            prisoner on release from a California prison after serving his  
            or her sentence.  (Penal Code Section 3000).  Although no  
            longer in physical custody, a parolee is required to comply  
            with specified restrictions to his or her freedom.  [People v.  
            Burgener (1986) 41 Cal 3d 505, 531.]  A prisoner on parole can  
            be either a determinately sentenced prisoner or an  
            indeterminately sentenced prisoner serving a sentence of life  
            with the possibility of parole.  

          The purpose of parole is to provide a transition period for a  
            formerly incarcerated person so that he or she may reintegrate  
            into the community.  In general, parole involves supervision  
            and surveillance.  The goals of parole include public safety,  
            reintegration of the parolee back into society, and making  
            parole decisions that are fiscally responsible on behalf of  
            California.  [Penal Code Section 3000(a).]  Parole is meant to  
            be reformatory in purpose; the object is to mitigate the rigor  
            of the prison system and to allow the prisoner to reenter  
            society by replacing continued incarceration with a  
            conditional freedom controlled by parole conditions.  [Penal  
            Code Section 3056; People v. Denne (1956) 141 Cal App 2d 499,  
            507.]  Parole provides a testing period for the reintegration  
            of a prisoner into society.  [In re Carabes (1983) 144 Cal App  
            3d 927, 931.]  
           
           REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION  :   

           Support 
           
          None

           Opposition 








                                                                 AB 2295
                                                                  Page  4

           
          None
           

          Analysis Prepared by  :    Gabriel Caswell / PUB. S. / (916)  
          319-3744