Amendment ID: S2415-2-R2

2nd Redraft Amendment 2

Release Consultation

Mr. Tarr moves to amend the bill in section 1, by inserting after the first paragraph of proposed subsection (e) of proposed section 119A of chapter127 of the General Laws the following paragraph:-

“If the prisoner eligible for conditional medical parole pursuant to this section is convicted and serving a sentence pursuant to section 1 of chapter 265, the full membership of the parole board shall conduct the hearing unless a member of the board is determined to be unavailable. For the purposes of this section, the term “unavailable” shall mean that a board member has a conflict of interest to the extent that the board member cannot render a fair and impartial decision or that the appearance of a board member would be unduly burdensome because of illness, incapacitation or other circumstance. Whether a member is unavailable under this section shall be determined by the chair. Board members shall appear unless the chair determines them to be unavailable. A parole hearing shall not proceed for a prisoner serving a sentence pursuant to said section 1 of said chapter 265 unless a majority of the board is present at the public hearing. For prisoners convicted and serving a sentence pursuant to said section 1 of said chapter 265, a vote of 2/3 of the members present is required to grant conditional medical parole. The parole board shall provide reasonable accommodations for prisoners appearing before it for a conditional medical parole hearing under this section including, but not limited to, video teleconferencing when appropriate.”; and

in said section 1, by inserting after the word “parole”, in line 115, the following words:- “or that the terminal illness or permanent incapacitation has improved to the extent that the prisoner would no longer be eligible for conditional medical parole pursuant to this section”.