2008 News
April 8 , 2008
Commissioners Applaud Bucks State House of Representatives Members for Passage of Prison Reform Bill
Yesterday, the Bucks County Board of Commissioners called upon the Pennsylvania House of Representatives Bucks County delegation to support a four-bill prison reform package that would place more responsibility on the state for more than 200 state-sentenced prisoners in the county jail.
The house passed all four bills, which call for confinement reimbursement (HB4), permission for counties to utilize state Department of Corrections (DOC) transportation resources to move inmates as well as to encourage the use of video conferencing (HB5), authority for county judges to grant parole to inmates serving state sentences (HB6), and improvements to the process by which the DOC can transfer seriously ill inmates to receive care (HB7).
HB4 dictates that inmates sentenced to more than two years will serve that time in a state-operated facility unless special conditions are met. Further, HB4 mandates reimbursement for those two-year-plus inmates who remain in a county facility.
In a letter to house representatives, Commissioners Jim Cawley, chairman, Charles H. Martin and Diane M. Ellis-Marseglia called upon the members to, “support the entire four-bill prison reform package without amendment!” Cawley extends his appreciation on behalf of the board and the county to the Bucks delegation.
“Passage of the prison reform package will pave the way to alleviate the financial burden to our taxpayers of housing state-sentenced prisoners,” Cawley noted. “I commend our state representatives for taking this crucial step forward.”
According to State Dept. of Corrections Secretary Jeffrey Beard, “There are a lot of incentives built into these bills to try to move these people in the right direction, so they’re less likely to go out and commit new crimes and have new victims and come back.”
The bill package, which now moves to the state Senate, would: 1) allow some new convicts with no history of violence to reduce their sentences by up to 25 percent if they complete recommended prison programming; 2) bar anyone convicted of a violent or sex crime from the sentence-reduction incentive; 3) allow prison officials, with approval of local prosecutors, to ask judges to re-sentence nonviolent offenders already in the system to intermediate punishment programs that move them much sooner to community-based supervision; and 4) streamline parole decisions for non-violent offenders who serve their minimum terms with good conduct records.
“We urge the Senate to act swiftly to send the bill to Gov. Rendell for his signature before the summer recess,” Bucks County Chief Operating Officer/Managing Director David Sanko added.