Vote Smart's Synopsis:

Vote to pass a bill that authorizes terminally ill inmates in Pennsylvania to receive care in the community or spend their end-of-life at home.

Highlights:

• Repeals existing statute regarding the transfer of inmates in need of medical treatment (Sec. 1).

• Authorizes the court that imposed a sentence on a defendant or inmate to modify a term of imprisonment upon petition by the Secretary of Corrections, the chief administrator of any other institution, the prosecuting attorney, the inmate, or the court (Sec. 2).

• Requires such petition, in order to be approved, to establish clear and convincing proof that the defendant or inmate has met any of the following conditions (Sec. 2):

• They have been diagnosed with a terminal illness that will reduce their life expectancy;

• They have been diagnosed with a serious illness that inhibits the ability to perform one or more activities of daily living;

• They have been diagnosed with a life-threatening illness that can be more appropriately treated outside of the correctional facility; or

• They have been diagnosed with a serious functional or cognitive impairment, or with deteriorating physical or mental health due to the aging process, that inhibits the ability to perform one or more activities of daily living.

• Requires the Department of Corrections to inform an inmate’s attorney, spouse or partner, and family members of any diagnosis described above, and in the case that the inmate’s condition renders them unable to submit a petition on their own behalf, inform those individuals that they may do so (Sec. 2).

• Requires the relevant court to issue a decision on a petition filed under this section within 30 days, and requires the court to consider the following in its decision (Sec. 2):

• Any response to the petition by the Office of Victim Advocate and any registered victim of the inmate’s offense;

• Any recommendation of the secretary or chief administrator of any other institution;

• The inmate’s instant offense or offenses of conviction;

• The inmate’s sentence and time served;

• The inmate’s current age, physical and mental condition, and ability to function in a correctional environment;

• The inmate’s postrelease care plan;

• The inmate’s disciplinary record while incarcerated; and

• The likelihood that the inmate would pose an unreasonable risk of danger to others or the community if released.

• Authorizes the court to impose any reasonable condition of release that might be imposed under a sentence of probation upon granting a petition (Sec. 2).

• Specifies that this Act takes effect 60 days after passage (Sec. 5).

Full Bill Text