25 signatures reached
To: ORGANIZATIONS IN PENNSYLVANIA
SUPPORT THE COALITION FOR PAROLE JUSTICE, END LIFETIME AND LONGTERM PAROLE
Pennsylvania’s parole system, designed decades ago, is in desperate need of an update. As it stands, everyone on parole must meet cumbersome requirements, from drug and alcohol tests at their own expense to distant check-ins with a parole officer–each of which costs the state significant money. These practices, along with restrictions on housing, employment, travel, education, and public services, remain in place for the entire lifespans of thousands of people, even for those who have been fully rehabilitated for decades. Pennsylvania is one of the only states that has these lifetime parole terms without a mechanism for compliant parolees to earn early termination of parole, resulting in PA paying much more than other states for its parole system, with no better results.
To alleviate the burden placed on these individuals and the agencies that supervise them, our legislation would give low-risk justice-involved individuals the opportunity to regain their citizenship sooner. It would do so by creating earned compliance credits, which would reduce their time under parole supervision by 15 days for each month they comply with the terms and conditions of their parole. Further, the legislation would give paroled individuals who are 40 years of age or older, and have served at least five years of consecutive parole supervision, a pathway to end long-term and lifetime parole after five years of parole compliance, allowing them to petition the court for an early termination of their
To alleviate the burden placed on these individuals and the agencies that supervise them, our legislation would give low-risk justice-involved individuals the opportunity to regain their citizenship sooner. It would do so by creating earned compliance credits, which would reduce their time under parole supervision by 15 days for each month they comply with the terms and conditions of their parole. Further, the legislation would give paroled individuals who are 40 years of age or older, and have served at least five years of consecutive parole supervision, a pathway to end long-term and lifetime parole after five years of parole compliance, allowing them to petition the court for an early termination of their
parole.
Why is this important?
It is past time to make more efficient use of Pennsylvania’s supervision resources by setting up low-risk parolees for continued success, not failure. Please support common-sense parole reform by signing on to this proposal. Only organizations may sign on, not individuals.