BILL ANALYSIS
SB 1399
Page 1
SENATE THIRD READING
SB 1399 (Leno)
As Amended August 20, 2010
Majority vote
SENATE VOTE :21-13
PUBLIC SAFETY 4-2 APPROPRIATIONS 10-4
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|Ayes:|Ammiano, Beall, Hill, |Ayes:|Fuentes, Bradford, |
| |Skinner | |Charles Calderon, Coto, |
| | | |Davis, De Leon, Hall, |
| | | |Skinner, Torlakson, |
| | | |Torrico |
| | | | |
|-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------|
|Nays:|Gilmore, Portantino |Nays:|Conway, Harkey, Miller, |
| | | |Nielsen |
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SUMMARY : Establishes a medical parole program, as specified.
Specifically, this bill :
1)Provides that, except as to those prisoners specified, any
prisoner sentenced to state prison with a determinate term who
the head physician at the institution where the prisoner is
located determines is permanently medically incapacitated with
a medial condition that renders the prisoner permanently
unable to perform activities of daily living, results in
24-hour care, and that incapacitation did not exist at the
time of sentencing shall be granted medical parole if the
Board of Parole Hearings (BPH) determines that the conditions
under which the prisoner would be released would not
reasonably pose a threat to public safety.
2)Specifies that medical parole shall not apply to any prisoner
sentenced to death or life in prison without possibility of
parole or to any inmate who is serving a sentence for which
parole is prohibited by any initiative statute. Provides that
the parole placements and related provisions shall not be
construed to alter or diminish the rights conferred under the
Victim's Bill of Rights Act of 2008: Marcy's Law.
3)States that when a physician employed by the California
Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) who is the
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primary care provider for an inmate identifies an inmate that
he or she believes meets the medical criteria for medical
parole, the primary care physician shall recommend to the head
physician of the institution where the prisoner is located
that the prisoner be referred to the BPH for consideration for
medical parole. Within 30 days of receiving that
recommendation, if the head physician concurs in the
recommendation of the primary care physician, he or she shall
refer the matter to the BPH, and if the head physician does
not concur in the recommendation, he or she shall provide the
primary care physician with a written explanation of the
reasons for denying the referral.
4)States that the prisoner or his or her family member or
designee may independently request consideration for medical
parole by contacting the head physician at the prison or the
CDCR Secretary. Within 30 days of receiving the request, the
head physician shall, in consultation with the prisoner's
primary care physician, make a determination whether the
prisoner meets the criteria for medical parole and, if the
head physician determines that the prisoner satisfies the
criteria set forth, he or she shall refer the matter to the
BPH. If the head physician does not concur in the
recommendation, he or she shall provide the prisoner or his or
her family member or designee with a written explanation of
the reasons for denying the application.
5)Mandates that CDCR complete parole plans for inmates referred
to the BPH for medical parole consideration. The parole plans
shall include, but not be limited to, the inmate's plan for
residency and medical care.
6)Provides that medical parole hearings shall be conducted by
two-person panels consisting of at least one commissioner. In
the event of a tie vote, the matter shall be referred to the
full BPH for a decision.
7)States that upon receiving a recommendation from a head
physician of the institution for a prisoner to be granted
medical parole, the BPH shall make an independent judgment
regarding whether the conditions under which the inmate would
be released pose a reasonable threat to public safety, and
make written findings related thereto.
8)States that the BPH or the Division of Adult Parole Operations
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shall have the authority to impose any reasonable conditions
on prisoners subject to medical parole supervision, including,
but not limited to, the requirement that the parolee submit to
electronic monitoring. As a further condition of medical
parole, the parolee may be required to submit to an
examination by a physician for the purpose of diagnosing their
current medical condition. In the event such an examination
takes place, a report of the examination and diagnosis shall
be submitted to the board by the examining physician. If the
BPH , based on a medical examination, determines that the
person's medical condition has improved to the extent that the
person no longer qualifies for medical parole, the BPH shall
return the person to the custody of CDCR.
9)Provides that prisoners sentenced to determinate terms who are
placed on medical parole supervision prior to the earliest
possible release date and who remain eligible for medical
parole shall remain on medical parole until the earliest
possible release date; at which time, that parolee shall
commence serving a standard parole term as specified.
10)Provides that prisoners sentenced to indeterminate terms who
are placed on medical parole prior to the minimum eligible
parole date and who remain on medical parole shall remain on
medical parole until the minimum eligible parole date; at
which time, the parolee shall be eligible for standard parole
as specified.
11)Provides that CDCR shall, at the time a prisoner is placed on
medical parole supervision ensure that the prisoner has
applied for any federal entitlement programs for which the
prisoner is eligible, and has in his or her possession a
discharge medical summary, full medical records, parole
medications, and all property belonging to the prisoner that
was under the control of the CDCR. Any additional records
shall be sent to the prisoner's forwarding address after
release to health care-related parole supervision.
12)Specifies that CDCR shall complete all of the following tasks
associated with inmates granted medical parole:
a) CDCR shall enter into memoranda of understanding with
the Social Security Administration and the State Department
of Health Care Services in addition to other entities to
facilitate prerelease agreements to help inmates initiate
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benefits claims;
b) Requires CDCR to establish contracts with appropriate
medical providers in cases where medical parolees are
ineligible for Medi-Cal; and,
c) CDCR shall reimburse counties for the costs associated
with providing an inmate granted medical parole with a
public guardian.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee:
1)Significant net annual General Fund (GF) savings, potentially
in the low tens of millions of dollars, as a result of
eliminating costly security for incapacitated inmates and
making these inmates eligible for Medi-Cal, for with the
federal government pays 50%.
Based on 32 inmates the federal prison health care receiver
contends are the most likely and immediate candidates for
medical parole, the receiver estimates a net first year
savings of about $30 million. These include 21 incapacitated
inmates housed in nursing facilities or hospitals outside the
prison at a cost of about $5,800 per day ($2.1 million per
year) and 11 incapacitated inmates in a correctional treatment
center (CTC) bed at a cost of about $433 per day ($158,000 per
year). According to the receiver's figures, the annual cost
for these 32 inmates alone is $46 million.
If, for example, the 21 inmates costing the state $44 million
were released to medical parole, with no guarding or
transportation costs ($758.000 per inmate, per year), and
annual medical costs were reduced from $1.35 million per
inmate per year to $100,000, one-half of which would be
covered by the federal government via Medi-Cal, the annual GF
savings would be about $42 million for these 21 inmates alone.
The potential savings for the 11 inmates referenced by the
receiver who are incapacitated in CTCs would be about $108,000
per inmate per year ($1.2 million total), assuming no guarding
or transportation costs (currently about $104,000 per inmate,
per year) and assuming medical/housing costs changed from
about $54,000 per inmates, per year, to $100,000 per year,
one-half of which would be paid by the federal government via
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Medi-Cal.
These savings could be higher or lower depending on existing
contract medical costs and specific circumstances.
2)Minor annual GF costs to CDCR, likely averaging in the range
of several thousand of dollars per guardian, to cover the cost
of medical guardians for inmates with no next of kin or legal
guardian to make legal and medical decisions.
3)Minor annual GF costs, likely in the range of $200,000,
assuming the number of medial parolees is in the range of 35:
a) ensure a medial parolee has applied for any federal
entitlement programs and possesses a discharge medical
summary, full medical records, and medication; b) enter into a
memoranda of understanding with the Social Security
Administration and the State Department of Health Care
Services to facilitate prerelease agreements to help inmates
initiate benefits claims; c) complete parole plans for inmates
referred to the Board of Parole Hearings for medial parole;
and, d) hold additional parole hearings and require electronic
monitoring in certain cases.
COMMENTS : According to the author, "Does it make sense for the
state to pay for two correctional officers to guard an inmate
24-hours-a-day as the inmate lies comatose or in a permanent
vegetative state in a hospital bed? Does it make sense for CDCR
to become a long-term care facility for inmates with, for
example, end-stage Alzheimer's disease, whose dementia is so
severe they no longer understand that they are in prison?
California is paying tens of millions of dollars every year to
incarcerate these very high-cost inmates. These offenders were
sent to prison to protect society and to punish them for their
crimes. Because of their medical condition, however, they are
no longer a threat and the ones being punished are the
taxpayers.
"California is not alone in facing this problem. Across the
country 36 states have implemented some form of medical release
to relieve them of the crushing financial burden of keeping
inmates in prison whose medical condition has rendered their
incarceration no longer necessary. In 1997, California first
authorized the Secretary of CDCR or the BPH to recommend to the
sentencing judge that an inmate's sentence be recalled due to
terminal illness. Ten years later that authority was extended
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to cover cases of medical incapacitation. However, last year
only two such releases were approved and we continue to
incarcerate inmates who could, by any rational standard, be
released without posing a threat to the public.
"SB 1399 addresses some of the issues that have been identified
as problematic in the current law. Rather than requiring a
sentence recall it creates an alternative procedure that permits
these inmates to be placed on parole supervision under
conditions determined by the parole board, and allows the parole
to be revoked if for any reason the parolee's condition changes
and creates a danger to the public.
"This medical parole, will place public safety paramount and
stop needlessly punishing the taxpayers.
Please see the policy committee for a full discussion of this
bill.
Analysis Prepared by : Gabriel Caswell / PUB. S. / (916)
319-3744
FN: 0006468