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2020 SPECIAL SESSION I

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SB 5034 Terminally ill prisoners; conditional release, sentence credits.

Introduced by: Jennifer B. Boysko | all patrons    ...    notes | add to my profiles | history

SUMMARY AS PASSED:

Release of prisoners. Provides that any person serving a sentence imposed upon a conviction for a felony offense other than those enumerated in the bill as exceptions to eligibility and who is terminally ill as defined in the bill is eligible for consideration by the Parole Board for conditional release.

The bill also establishes a four-level classification system for the awarding and calculation of earned sentence credits. The bill specifies certain crimes that are subject to the maximum 4.5 earned sentence credits for each 30 days served that is permitted under current law. The bill provides that the Department of Corrections shall convene in due course a work group to study the impact of the sentence credit amendments set forth in the bill. The bill directs the work group to report to the Governor and the General Assembly by July 1, 2021, the membership of the work group and the work group's plan for conducting such study, including any data and information upon which the work group will rely in conducting such study, and to report its finding and conclusions to the Governor and the General Assembly by December 1, 2022. The remainder of the bill has a delayed effective date of January 1, 2022, and requires the calculation of earned sentence credits to apply retroactively to the entire sentence of any inmate who is confined in a state correctional facility and participating in the earned sentence credit system on January 1, 2022.

SUMMARY AS PASSED SENATE:

Release of prisoners. Provides that any person serving a sentence imposed upon a conviction for a felony offense, other than a Class 1 felony, who is terminally ill is eligible for consideration by the Parole Board for conditional release. The bill also provides that any person serving such sentence (i) who is 65 years or age or older and has served at least five years of the sentence imposed or (ii) who is 60 years of age or older and has served at least 10 years of the sentenced imposed is eligible for consideration by the Parole Board for conditional release without the need to petition the Parole Board.

The bill also establishes a four-level classification system for the awarding and calculation of earned sentence credits. The bill requires the calculation of earned sentence credits to apply retroactively to the entire sentence of any inmate who is confined in a state correctional facility and participating in the earned sentence credit system. The Department of Corrections (the Department) would report annually on the number of inmates released pursuant to the earned sentence credit
provisions who commit a criminal offense subsequent to release. The provisions of the bill related to earned sentence credits have a delayed effective date of July 1, 2022. The bill directs the Department to convene a workgroup to study the effect of those provisions and report to the General Assembly by July 1, 2022.

SUMMARY AS INTRODUCED:

Release of prisoners. Provides that any person serving a sentence imposed upon a conviction for a felony offense, other than a Class 1 felony, who is terminally ill or permanently physically disabled is eligible for consideration by the Parole Board for conditional release. The bill also provides that any person serving such sentence (i) who is 65 years or age or older and has served at least five years of the sentence imposed or (ii) who is 60 years of age or older and has served at least 10 years of the sentenced imposed is eligible for consideration by the Parole Board for conditional release without the need to petition the Parole Board. The bill also establishes a four-level classification system for the awarding and calculation of earned sentence credits. The bill requires the calculation of earned sentence credits to apply retroactively to the entire sentence of any inmate who is confined in a state correctional facility and participating in the earned sentence credit system.