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General Assembly Raised Bill No. 1058
January Session, 2021
LCO No. 5235
Referred to Committee on JUDICIARY
Introduced by:
(JUD)
AN ACT CONCERNING CO MPASSIONATE PAROLE R ELEASE BY
THE BOARD OF PARDONS AND PAROLES AND CONCERNING
STAFF OF THE DEPARTM ENT OF CORRECTION.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General
Assembly convened:
Section 1. Section 54-131k of the general statutes is repealed and the 1
following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective October 1, 2021): 2
(a) [The] Notwithstanding any provision of the general statutes, the 3
Board of Pardons and Paroles may grant a compassionate parole release 4
to any inmate serving any sentence of imprisonment, except an inmate 5
convicted of a capital felony under the provisions of section 53a-54b in 6
effect prior to April 25, 2012, or murder with special circumstances 7
under the provisions of section 53a-54b in effect on or after April 25, 8
2012, if [it] the board finds that such inmate (1) is so physically or 9
mentally debilitated, incapacitated or infirm as a result of advanced age 10
or as a result of a condition, disease or syndrome that is not terminal as 11
to [be physically incapable of presenting] present a significantly 12
reduced risk as a danger to society, and (2) (A) has served not less than 13
one-half of such inmate's definite or aggregate sentence, or (B) has 14 Raised Bill No. 1058
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served not less than one-half of such inmate's remaining definite or 15
aggregate sentence after commutation of the original sentence by the 16
Board of Pardons and Paroles. 17
(b) Notwithstanding any provision of the general statutes, during a 18
major disaster or an emergency declaration by the President of the 19
United States covering any part of the state, or an emergency declaration 20
issued by the Governor, that shall include, but need not be limited to, 21
those declarations issued concerning the COVID-19 pandemic, any 22
other disease epidemic or public health emergency or a natural disaster, 23
a panel of the Board of Pardons and Paroles may grant a compassionate 24
parole release to any inmate serving any sentence of imprisonment, 25
except an inmate convicted of a capital felony under the provisions of 26
section 53a-54b in effect prior to April 25, 2012, or murder with special 27
circumstances under the provisions of section 53a-54b in effect on or 28
after April 25, 2012, at any time during the term of such inmate's 29
sentence, if that panel finds that (1) circumstances exist which pose a 30
higher risk of harm to such inmate should he or she remain confined, 31
and (2) such inmate presents a reduced risk of presenting any danger to 32
society. 33
(c) For purposes of this section, "COVID-19" means the respiratory 34
disease designated by the World Health Organization on February 11, 35
2020, as coronavirus 2019, and any related mutation thereof recognized 36
by said organization as a communicable respiratory disease. 37
[(b) Any person granted a compassionate parole release pursuant to 38
this section shall be released subject to such terms and conditions as may 39
be established by the Board of Pardons and Paroles and shall be 40
supervised by the Department of Correction.] 41
Sec. 2. Section 18-81nn of the general statutes is repealed and the 42
following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective from passage): 43
(a) Any correction officer who witnesses another correction officer 44
use what the witnessing correction officer objectively knows to be 45
excessive or illegal use of force shall intervene and attempt to stop such 46 Raised Bill No. 1058
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other correction officer from using such force. Any correction officer 47
who fails to intervene in such an incident may be prosecuted and 48
punished in accordance with the provisions of section 53a-8 for the same 49
acts as the correction officer who used unreasonable, excessive or illegal 50
force. 51
(b) Any correction officer who witnesses another correction officer 52
use what the witnessing correction officer objectively knows to be 53
unreasonable, excessive or illegal use of force or is otherwise aware of 54
such use of force by another correction officer shall report, as soon as is 55
practicable, such use of force to the witnessing correction officer's 56
immediate supervisor. Such supervisor shall immediately report such 57
use of force to the immediate supervisor of the correction officer who is 58
reported to have used such force. Any correction officer required to 59
report such an incident who fails to do so may be prosecuted and 60
punished in accordance with the provisions of sections 53a-165 to 53a-61
167, inclusive. 62
(c) The Department of Correction or any employee of the department 63
shall not take any retaliatory personnel action or discriminate against a 64
correction officer because such correction officer intervened in an 65
incident pursuant to subsection (a) of this section or reported an incident 66
pursuant to subsection (b) of this section. Such intervening or reporting 67
correction officer shall be protected by the provisions of section 4-61dd 68
or 31-51m, as applicable. 69
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following
sections:
Section 1 October 1, 2021 54-131k
Sec. 2 from passage 18-81nn
Statement of Purpose:
To modify standards used by the Board of Pardons and Paroles to
determine when an inmate may be eligible for compassionate parole
release and to clarify that whistle blower protections apply to staff of the Raised Bill No. 1058
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Department of Correction who report suspected unlawful uses of force
by other staff members.
[Proposed deletions are enclosed in brackets. Proposed additions are indicated by underline, except
that when the entire text of a bill or resolution or a section of a bill or resolution is new, it is not
underlined.]