BILL ANALYSIS �
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Kevin de Le�n, Chair
SB 1284 (Galgiani) - Inmates: medical parole or compassionate
release.
Amended: April 28, 2014 Policy Vote: Public Safety 4-1
Urgency: No Mandate: No
Hearing Date: May 12, 2014 Consultant: Jolie Onodera
This bill meets the criteria for referral to the Suspense File.
Bill Summary: SB 1284 would provide that inmates convicted of
first degree murder of a peace officer, as specified, are
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 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 (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
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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 specified, 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
peace officer, and was intentionally murdered in retaliation
for the performance of his or her official duties.
Provides that if the court determines that the application
of this clause violates the ex post facto clauses of the
U.S. or California Constitution, the court shall only
enforce its provisions prospectively.
Prior Legislation: 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
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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
(0.2 percent) would have been eligible for medical parole or
compassionate release, would result in a significant loss of
savings.
The Receiver 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 is
reimbursed for medical care by the federal government.