BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Senator Ricardo Lara, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular Session
SB 6 (Galgiani) - Parole: medical parole: compassionate
release
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|Version: December 1, 2014 |Policy Vote: PUB. S. 4 - 1 |
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|Urgency: No |Mandate: No |
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|Hearing Date: April 27, 2015 |Consultant: Jolie Onodera |
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This bill meets the criteria for referral to the Suspense File.
Bill
Summary: SB 6 would provide that an inmate convicted of first
degree murder of a peace officer, as specified, is ineligible
for compassionate release or medical parole.
Fiscal
Impact: Potential loss of significant future cost savings
(General Fund) to the extent formerly eligible inmates convicted
of first degree murder of a peace officer would have otherwise
been granted medical parole or compassionate release. Based on
historical releases, the average annual savings on CDCR custody
costs alone for one inmate released from a hospital/nursing home
setting on medical parole is $750,000 (General Fund).
Background: Existing law provides that an inmate under the supervision of
the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) may be
released for medical reasons under compassionate release or
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medical parole. The compassionate release provisions provide
that if the Secretary of the CDCR, the Board of Parole Hearings
(BPH), or both, determine that the conditions under which a
prisoner would be released or receive treatment do not pose a
threat to public safety, and the prisoner is terminally ill with
an incurable condition and has less than six months to live, or
the prisoner is permanently medically incapacitated and requires
24-hour care, the Secretary or the BPH may recommend to the
court that the prisoner's sentence be recalled. (Penal Code (PC)
§ 1170(e)(1)-(2).)
Existing law establishes the medical parole program whereby any
prisoner who the head physician of a CDCR institution determines
is permanently medically incapacitated with a medical condition
that renders him or her permanently unable to perform activities
of basic daily living, resulting in the prisoner requiring
24-hour care, and that incapacitation did not exist at the time
of sentencing, shall be granted medical parole if the BPH
determines that the conditions under which the prisoner would be
released would not reasonably pose a threat to public safety.
(PC § 3550(a))
Existing law provides that the compassionate release and medical
parole provisions do not apply to a prisoner sentenced to death
or a term of life without the possibility of parole.
Additionally, the medical parole provisions do not apply to a
prisoner serving a sentence for which parole, as specified, is
prohibited by any initiative statute.
Proposed Law:
This bill would specify that, in addition to the eligibility
restrictions under existing law, the following inmates are
ineligible for release on medical parole or compassionate
release:
A prisoner who was convicted of first degree murder if the
victim was a peace officer, as defined in Chapter 4.5 of
Title 3, who was killed while engaged in the performance of
his or her duties, and the individual knew, or reasonably
should have known, that the victim was a peace officer
engaged in the performance of his or her duties.
The victim was a peace officer, as defined, or had been a
SB 6 (Galgiani) Page 2 of
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peace officer, and was intentionally murdered in retaliation
for the performance of his or her official duties, and the
defendant was sentenced on or after January 1, 2016.
Prior
Legislation: SB 1284 (Galgiani) 2014 was substantially similar to this
measure. This bill stalled in the Assembly Committee on Public
Safety.
AB 68 (Maienschein) Chapter 764/2013 requires the CDCR to give
notice at least 30 days prior to a medical parole hearing or
medical parole release, as specified, to the county of
commitment and the county of proposed release.
SB 1399 (Leno) Chapter 405/2010 provides for medical parole of
CDCR inmates under the following circumstances: 1) the inmate is
found by the head physician to be permanently medically
incapacitated with a medical condition that renders him or her
permanently unable to perform activities of daily living,
resulting in the need for 24-hour care, and 2) the Board of
Parole Hearings also makes a determination that the conditions
under which the prisoner would be released would not reasonably
pose a threat to public safety.
Staff
Comments: By placing additional restrictions on the population
of prison inmates eligible for medical parole or compassionate
release, this bill could result in a significant future loss of
General Fund cost savings, potentially in the low millions of
dollars annually, that otherwise would have been afforded to
CDCR as a result of eliminating the ability to reduce costly
security for incapacitated inmates and potentially for the
Receiver to receive federal reimbursement through Medi-Cal for
medical care in certain circumstances.
Data from CDCR indicates over 500 commitments to state prison
annually for the crime of first degree murder. However, specific
information on whether the victim was a peace officer is not
available for this population. To the extent even one inmate
could potentially be impacted by the provisions of this bill
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would result in a significant loss of cost savings. The
Receiver's Office has indicated costs of about $750,000 (General
Fund) per year to guard one inmate, who is not on parole, in a
hospital or nursing home setting. As CDCR policy requires an
inmate still serving his or her sentence to continue to be
guarded, restricting medical parole for additional inmates will
restrict CDCR's ability to remove custodial costs for these
inmates. Placing a person on medical parole removes the guarding
component, irrespective of whether or not the Receiver's Office
is reimbursed for medical care by the federal government.
The Three-Judge Court, in its February 10, 2014, order granting
a two-year extension to reduce the in-state adult inmate
population to 137.5 percent of design capacity, ordered the CDCR
to immediately implement several population reduction measures,
including consulting with the Receiver's Office to finalize and
implement an expanded parole process for medically incapacitated
inmates. The provisions of this measure appear inconsistent with
the Court's order.
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