BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



                                                                     SB 517


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          SENATE THIRD READING


          SB  
          517 (Monning)


          As Introduced  February 26, 2015


          Majority vote


          SENATE VOTE:  34-1


           ------------------------------------------------------------------ 
          |Committee       |Votes|Ayes                  |Noes                |
          |                |     |                      |                    |
          |                |     |                      |                    |
          |                |     |                      |                    |
          |----------------+-----+----------------------+--------------------|
          |Public Safety   |7-0  |Quirk, Melendez,      |                    |
          |                |     |                      |                    |
          |                |     |                      |                    |
          |                |     |Jones-Sawyer, Lackey, |                    |
          |                |     |Lopez, Low, Santiago  |                    |
          |                |     |                      |                    |
          |                |     |                      |                    |
           ------------------------------------------------------------------ 


          SUMMARY:  Authorizes a court to release from custody a person on  
          probation, mandatory supervision, postrelease community  
          supervision (PRCS), or parole, who is alleged to have violated  
          the terms of supervision under any terms and conditions the  
          court deems appropriate unless the person is serving a period of  
          flash incarceration. 









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          EXISTING LAW:  


          1)Requires all persons paroled before October 1, 2011, to remain  
            under the supervision of the California Department of  
            Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) until jurisdiction is  
            terminated by operation of law or until parole is discharged.   



          2)Requires the following persons released from state prison on  
            or after July 1, 2013, to be subject to parole under the  
            supervision of CDCR:


             a)   A person who committed a serious felony listed in Penal  
               Code Section 1192.7(c);


             b)   A person who committed a violent felony listed in Penal  
               Code Section 667.5(c);


             c)   A person serving a sentence under the "Three Strikes"  
               law;


             d)   A person classified as a high-risk sex offender;


             e)   A person determined to be a mentally disordered  
               offender;


             f)   A person required to register as a sex offender and  
               subject to a parole term exceeding three years at the time  
               of the commission of the offense for which he or she is  
               being released; and, 








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             g)   A person subject to lifetime parole at the time of the  
               commission of the offense for which he or she is being  
               released.  


          3)States that all other offenders released from prison on or  
            after July 1, 2013, to be placed on PRCS under the supervision  
            of a county agency, such as a probation department.  


          4)Limits PRCS to three years.  


          5)Provides for intermediate sanctions for violating the terms of  
            PRCS, including "flash incarceration" for up to 10 days.  


          6)Specifies that if PRCS is revoked, the offender may be  
            incarcerated in the county jail for a period not to exceed 180  
            days for each custodial sanction.  


          7)Prohibits the return of an offender who violates conditions of  
            PRCS to prison.  


          8)Specifies that a parolee held in custody for a pending parole  
            violation before October 1, 2011, may be returned to state  
            prison for the violation for period not to exceed 12 months.  


          9)Specifies that a parolee held in custody for a pending parole  
            violation on or after October 1, 2011, will be returned to  
            county jail, rather than state prison, for up to 180 days of  
            incarceration per revocation.  










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          10)Authorizes a county agency responsible for PRCS to determine  
            additional appropriate conditions of supervision consistent  
            with public safety, including continuous electronic  
            monitoring, order the provision of appropriate rehabilitation  
            and treatment services, determine appropriate incentives, and  
            determine and order appropriate responses to alleged  
            violations, which can include, but shall not be limited to,  
            immediate, structured, and intermediate sanctions up to and  
            including referral to a reentry court, or flash incarceration  
            in a county jail.  Periods of flash incarceration are  
            encouraged as one method of punishment for violations of an  
            offender's condition of post release supervision.  


          11)Defines "flash incarceration" as a period of detention in  
            county jail due to a violation of an offender's conditions of  
            post release supervision.  The length of the detention period  
            can range between one and 10 consecutive days.  Flash  
            incarceration is a tool that may be used by each county agency  
            responsible for post release supervision.  Shorter, but if  
            necessary more frequent, periods of detention for violations  
            of an offender's post release supervision conditions shall  
            appropriately punish an offender while preventing the  
            disruption in a work or home establishment that typically  
            arises from longer term revocations.  


          FISCAL EFFECT:  Unknown.  This bill has been keyed non-fiscal by  
          the Legislative Counsel. 


          COMMENTS:  According to the author, "Prior to the implementation  
          of criminal justice realignment under AB 109 (Budget Committee),  
          Chapter 15, Statutes of 2011, the California Department of  
          Corrections and Rehabilitation had the authority to issue arrest  
          warrants for parole violations along with issuing and recalling  
          parole holds.  While the courts were given the statutory  
          authority to issue arrest warrants for parole violations under  
          realignment, the legislation failed to give explicit statutory  








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          authority for the courts to recall a parole hold. Without this  
          statutory authority, a supervising parole or probation officer  
          has the sole authority over custody decisions of a supervised  
          individual in jail on a parole hold.


          "When a supervised person is rearrested and placed in custody,  
          the supervising officer can either impose sanctions on the  
          offender, such as flash incarceration, or petition the courts to  
          have their parole revoked.  Until that happens, however, the  
          courts have no statutory authority to release the individual  
          from the parole hold. Additionally, an October 2014 appellate  
          court decision, Williams v. Superior Court (2014) 230  
          Cal.App.4th 636, now requires the supervising officer to act  
          within 10 days of placing a supervised person on a parole hold,  
          by either imposing sanctions or initiating revocation  
          proceedings with the courts.


          "SB 517 will provide the courts with discretion when determining  
          the custody status of an individual on probation, parole, or  
          post release community supervision who is placed in county jail  
          on a parole hold for violating their terms of supervision.  This  
          measure will correct an oversight of realignment and ensure that  
          courts have the same authority CDCR had prior to realignment."    
           




          Analysis Prepared by:                                             
                          Gregory Pagan / PUB. S. / (916) 319-3744  FN:  
          0000960














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