The Division of Parole is responsible for monitoring and supervising nearly 63,000 parolees who have been released from the State's prison system as a result of Parole Board action or by conditional release. Parole operations occur in the community and within state correctional facilities.

The Division of Parole is included in the Public Protection and General Government bill.

State Operations

The Executive recommends an All Funds State Operations appropriation of $147,519,000, which is a $6,834,000 decrease from State Fiscal Year (SFY) 2003-04 spending. The State Operations appropriations include the following proposals:

• a $2,588,000 increase to reflect salary adjustments and other costs related to agency operations;

• a $7,688,000 reduction in personal service and non-personal service to reflect agency participation in the early retirement incentive and workload efficiencies;

• a $422,000 clerical staff savings resulting from agency participation in a technology initiative to provide electronic information systems to aid in caseload management.;

• a $711,000 savings resulting from the attrition of six administrative staff positions;

• a $750,000 reduction in non-personal service costs resulting from requiring hearing reporters to only transcribe board hearings of inmates who are denied release (see Article VII below);

• a $1,657,000 savings resulting from attrition of parole staff due to the implementation of a Merit Termination of Sentence Program (see Article VII below); and

• a $1,807,000 increase to accommodate personal service costs associated with the supervision of additional parolees resulting from projected reductions in Department of Correctional Services (DOCS) under-custody population (see Article VII -DOCS).

Caseload reductions resulting from Merit Termination provisions will be offset by an increased amount of non-violent inmates released from DOCS. The Executive projects no major impact on the average Parole Officer's caseload.

Aid To Localities

The Executive recommends an All Funds Aid To Localities appropriation of $42,727,000, which represents a $1,207,000 decrease from SFY 2002-03 spending levels. The appropriation reflects a reduction of $2,712,000 in Federal Aid from the Edward Byrne Memorial Grant Program.

The Executive's budget proposes the following:

• a $3,005,000 increase in spending to compensate localities for housing parole violators in local jails; and

• a $1,500,000 reduction in existing drug treatment contracts after performance-based review by the Parole Board.

Article VII

The Executive proposes Article VII language that would authorize the Division of Parole to grant merit termination of sentence for non-violent parolees for specific classes of felonies. The bill would allow for parolees and conditional or presumptive releases to be granted an early termination of sentence, provided they have successfully completed at least one year of parole supervision without incident. Non-violent class A felons would be eligible for merit termination of sentence after two years of parole supervision, while non-violent B,C,D or E felons would be eligible for such termination after one year on parole. The bill instructs the Chairman of the Board of Parole to promulgate rules and regulations to implement this program while ensuring public safety.

The Executive would authorize hearing reporters to limit transcriptions of Board hearings only to inmates who have been denied release.

The Executive would also extend provisions related to the parole supervision fee.