SENATE BILL No. 467

May 9, 2001, Introduced by Senator VAN REGENMORTER and referred to the Committee on Judiciary.

A bill to amend 1953 PA 232, entitled

"An act to revise, consolidate, and codify the laws relating to

probationers and probation officers, to pardons, reprieves, com-

mutations, and paroles, to the administration of correctional

institutions, correctional farms, and probation recovery camps,

to prisoner labor and correctional industries, and to the super-

vision and inspection of local jails and houses of correction; to

provide for the siting of correctional facilities; to create a

state department of corrections, and to prescribe its powers and

duties; to provide for the transfer to and vesting in said

department of powers and duties vested by law in certain other

state boards, commissions, and officers, and to abolish certain

boards, commissions, and offices the powers and duties of which

are transferred by this act; to allow for the operation of cer-

tain facilities by private entities; to prescribe the powers and

duties of certain other state departments and agencies; to pro-

vide for the creation of a local lockup advisory board; to pre-

scribe penalties for the violation of the provisions of this act;

to make certain appropriations; to repeal certain parts of this

act on specific dates; and to repeal all acts and parts of acts

inconsistent with the provisions of this act,"

by amending section 35 (MCL 791.235), as amended by 1998 PA 315.

THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN ENACT:

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1 Sec. 35. (1) The release of a prisoner on parole shall be

2 granted solely upon the initiative of the parole board. The

3 parole board may grant a parole without interviewing the

4 prisoner. However, beginning on the date on which the adminis-

5 trative rules prescribing parole guidelines pursuant to

6 section 33e(5) take effect, the parole board may grant a parole

7 without interviewing the prisoner only if, after evaluating the

8 prisoner according to the parole guidelines, the parole board

9 determines that the prisoner has a high probability of being

10 paroled and the parole board therefore intends to parole the

11 prisoner. Except as provided in subsection (2), a prisoner shall

12 not be denied parole without an interview before 1 member of the

13 parole board. The interview shall be conducted at least 1 month

14 before the expiration of the prisoner's minimum sentence less

15 applicable good time and disciplinary credits for a prisoner eli-

16 gible for good time and disciplinary credits, or at least 1 month

17 before the expiration of the prisoner's minimum sentence for a

18 prisoner subject to disciplinary time. The parole board shall

19 consider any statement made to the parole board by a crime victim

20 under the crime victim's rights act, 1985 PA 87, MCL 780.751 to

21 780.834, or under any other provision of law. The parole board

22 shall not consider any of the following factors in making a

23 parole determination:

24 (a) A juvenile record that a court has ordered the depart-

25 ment to expunge.

26 (b) Information that is determined by the parole board to be

27 inaccurate or irrelevant after a challenge and presentation of

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1 relevant evidence by a prisoner who has received a notice of

2 intent to conduct an interview as provided in subsection (4).

3 This subdivision applies only to presentence investigation

4 reports prepared before April 1, 1983.

5 (2) Beginning on the date on which the administrative rules

6 prescribing the parole guidelines take effect pursuant to

7 section 33e(5), if, after evaluating a prisoner according to the

8 parole guidelines, the parole board determines that the prisoner

9 has a low probability of being paroled and the parole board

10 therefore does not intend to parole the prisoner, the parole

11 board shall not be required to interview the prisoner before

12 denying parole to the prisoner.

13 (3) The parole board may consider but shall not base a

14 determination to deny parole solely on either of the following:

15 (a) A prisoner's marital history.

16 (b) Prior arrests not resulting in conviction or adjudica-

17 tion of delinquency.

18 (4) If an interview is to be conducted, the prisoner shall

19 be sent a notice of intent to conduct an interview at least 1

20 month before the date of the interview. The notice shall state

21 the specific issues and concerns that shall be discussed at the

22 interview and that may be a basis for a denial of parole. A

23 denial of parole shall not be based on reasons other than those

24 stated in the notice of intent to conduct an interview except for

25 good cause stated to the prisoner at or before the interview and

26 in the written explanation required by subsection (12). This

27 subsection does not apply until April 1, 1983.

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1 (5) Except for good cause, the parole board member

2 conducting the interview shall not have cast a vote for or

3 against the prisoner's release before conducting the current

4 interview. Before the interview, the parole board member who is

5 to conduct the interview shall review pertinent information rela-

6 tive to the notice of intent to conduct an interview.

7 (6) A prisoner may waive the right to an interview by 1

8 member of the parole board. The waiver of the right to be inter-

9 viewed shall be given not more than 30 days after the notice of

10 intent to conduct an interview is issued and shall be made in

11 writing. During the interview held pursuant to a notice of

12 intent to conduct an interview, the prisoner may be represented

13 by an individual of his or her choice. The representative shall

14 not be another prisoner or an attorney. A prisoner is not enti-

15 tled to appointed counsel at public expense. The prisoner or

16 representative may present relevant evidence in support of

17 release. This subsection does not apply until April 1, 1983.

18 (7) At least 90 days before the expiration of the prisoner's

19 minimum sentence less applicable good time and disciplinary cred-

20 its for a prisoner eligible for good time or disciplinary cred-

21 its, or at least 90 days before the expiration of the prisoner's

22 minimum sentence for a prisoner subject to disciplinary time, or

23 the expiration of a 12-month continuance for any prisoner, a

24 parole eligibility report shall be prepared by appropriate insti-

25 tutional staff. The parole eligibility report shall be consid-

26 ered pertinent information for purposes of subsection (5). The

27 report shall include all of the following:

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1 (a) A statement of all major misconduct charges of which the

2 prisoner was found guilty and the punishment served for the

3 misconduct.

4 (b) The prisoner's work and educational record while

5 confined.

6 (c) The results of any physical, mental, or psychiatric

7 examinations of the prisoner that may have been performed.

8 (d) Whether the prisoner fully cooperated with the state by

9 providing complete financial information as required under sec-

10 tion 3a of the state correctional facility reimbursement act,

11 1935 PA 253, MCL 800.403a.

12 (e) For a prisoner subject to disciplinary time, a statement

13 of all disciplinary time submitted for the parole board's consid-

14 eration pursuant to section 34 of 1893 PA 118, MCL 800.34.

15 (8) The preparer of the report shall not include a recommen-

16 dation as to release on parole.

17 (9) Psychological evaluations performed at the request of

18 the parole board to assist it in reaching a decision on the

19 release of a prisoner may be performed by the same person who

20 provided the prisoner with therapeutic treatment, unless a dif-

21 ferent person is requested by the prisoner or parole board.

22 (10) The parole board may grant a medical parole for a pris-

23 oner determined to be physically or mentally incapacitated. A

24 decision to grant a medical parole shall be initiated upon the

25 recommendation of the bureau of health care services and shall be

26 reached only after a review of the medical, institutional, and

27 criminal records of the prisoner.

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1 (11) The department shall submit a petition to the

2 appropriate court under section 434 of the mental health code,

3 1974 PA 258, MCL 330.1434, for any prisoner being paroled or

4 being released after serving his or her maximum sentence whom the

5 department considers to be a person requiring treatment. The

6 parole board shall require mental health treatment as a special

7 condition of parole for any parolee whom the department has

8 determined to be a person requiring treatment whether or not the

9 petition filed for that prisoner is granted by the court. As

10 used in this subsection, "person requiring treatment" means that

11 term as defined in section 401 of the mental health code, 1974

12 PA 258, MCL 330.1401.

13 (12) IF A PAROLE INTERVIEW IS TO BE CONDUCTED FOR A PRISONER

14 WHO IS A VIOLENT PREDATOR, AS THAT TERM IS DEFINED IN

15 SECTION 1060 OF THE MENTAL HEALTH CODE, 1974 PA 258,

16 MCL 330.1060, THAT INTERVIEW SHALL NOT BE CONDUCTED UNLESS PRIOR

17 WRITTEN NOTICE IS SENT TO THE ATTORNEY GENERAL OF THIS STATE.

18 THE NOTICE SHALL BE SENT TO THE ATTORNEY GENERAL AT LEAST 30 DAYS

19 BEFORE THE DATE OF THE INTERVIEW, AND SHALL INCLUDE THE NAME OF

20 THE PRISONER, THE TIME, DATE, AND PLACE OF THE PROPOSED INTER-

21 VIEW, AND A STATEMENT THAT THE PRISONER MEETS THE DEFINITION OF A

22 VIOLENT PREDATOR UNDER SECTION 1060 OF THE MENTAL HEALTH CODE,

23 1974 PA 258, MCL 330.1060. THE ATTORNEY GENERAL OF THIS STATE,

24 OR HIS OR HER DESIGNEE, HAS THE RIGHT TO APPEAR AT A PAROLE HEAR-

25 ING FOR A VIOLENT PREDATOR AND MAY OFFER VERBAL OR WRITTEN TESTI-

26 MONY AT THAT HEARING ON THE ISSUE OF GRANTING OR DENYING PAROLE.

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1 (13) (12) When the parole board makes a final

2 determination not to release a prisoner, the prisoner shall be

3 provided with a written explanation of the reason for denial and,

4 if appropriate, specific recommendations for corrective action

5 the prisoner may take to facilitate release.

6 (14) (13) This section does not apply to the placement on

7 parole of a person in conjunction with special alternative incar-

8 ceration under section 34a(7).

9 Enacting section 1. This amendatory act does not take

10 effect unless Senate Bill No. 465

11 of the 91st Legislature is enacted into

12 law.

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