BILL ANALYSIS
AB 2295
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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).]
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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
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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
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None
Analysis Prepared by : Gabriel Caswell / PUB. S. / (916)
319-3744