Title PEN, California Penal Code

The Department of Corrections shall develop and report, utilizing existing resources, to the Legislature by December 31, 2000, a plan that would ensure by January 1, 2005, that all prisoners and parolees who are substance abusers receive appropriate treatment, including therapeut…

The Department of Corrections shall implement, by January 1, 2002, a course of instruction for the training of parole officers in California in the management of parolees who were convicted of stalking pursuant to Section 646.9. The course shall include instruction in the appropr…

(a) The Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, subject to the legislative appropriation of the necessary funds, may establish and operate, after January 1, 2007, a specialized sex offender treatment pilot program for inmates whom the department determines pose a high risk …

The Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation is hereby authorized to obtain day treatment, and to contract for crisis care services, for parolees with mental health problems. Day treatment and crisis care services should be designed to reduce parolee recidivism and the chance…

Counties are hereby authorized to contract with the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation in order to obtain correctional clinical services for inmates with mental health problems who are released on postrelease community supervision with mental health problems. (Amended b…

(a) The Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation shall ensure that all parolees under active supervision who are deemed to pose a high risk to the public of committing sex crimes, as determined by the State-Authorized Risk Assessment Tool for Sex Offenders (SARATSO), as set f…

(a) The Secretary of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation shall establish a parole reentry accountability program for parolees who have been sentenced to a term of imprisonment under Section 1170. The purpose of the program is to promote public safety, hold parolees a…

(a) The Secretary of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation shall establish the Case Management Reentry Pilot Program for offenders under the jurisdiction of the department who have been sentenced to a term of imprisonment under Section 1170 and are likely to benefit fr…

The Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation shall conduct assessments of all inmates that include, but are not limited to, data regarding the inmate’s history of substance abuse, medical and mental health, education, family background, criminal activity, service in the Unite…

A credentialed teacher, vice principal, or principal shall provide input relating to the academic or vocational education program placement of an inmate pursuant to Section 3375 of Title 15 of the California Code of Regulations, including, but not limited to, interviewing the inm…

The Legislature finds and declares that the period immediately following incarceration is critical to successful reintegration of the offender into society and to positive citizenship. It is in the interest of public safety for a county to provide for the supervision of parolees,…

(a) There is in each county a board of parole commissioners, consisting of each of the following: (1) The sheriff, or his or her designee, or, in a county with a department of corrections, the director of that department. (2) The probation officer, or his or her designee. (3) A m…

(a) The board may make, establish and enforce rules and regulations adopted under this article. (b) The board shall act at regularly called meetings at which two-thirds of the members are present, and shall make and establish rules and regulations in writing stating the reasons t…

Whenever a prisoner is sentenced in one county and incarcerated in another county, only the county in which he was sentenced shall have jurisdiction to grant parole. (Added by Stats. 1978, Ch. 918.)

(a) The board shall notify the sentencing judge of an inmate’s application for parole. (b) The sentencing judge may make a recommendation regarding such application, and the board shall give careful consideration to such recommendation. (Repealed and added by Stats. 1978, Ch. 918…

(a) No application for parole shall be granted or denied except by a vote of the board at a meeting at which a quorum of its members are present. This paragraph shall not be applied to the denial of applicants who are ineligible by order of the superior court, or to the granting …

If any paroled prisoner leaves the county in which he is imprisoned without permission from the board granting his parole, he shall be arrested as an escaped prisoner and held as such. (Added by Stats. 1953, Ch. 1384.)

(a) Each county board may retake and imprison any prisoner upon parole granted under the provisions of this article. (b) Each county board may release any prisoner on parole for a term not to exceed three years upon those conditions and under those rules and regulations as may se…

Each county board may make and establish written rules and regulations for the unconditional release of and may unconditionally release any prisoner who is not a citizen or national of the United States and who voluntarily consents to return or to be returned to their native land…

Whenever the board designates deputies to serve as temporary commissioners in considering applications for parole of prisoners, such temporary commissioners or deputies may also exercise all the powers granted by this article relative to the unconditional release of prisoners who…

Each county board may release to the State Department of Corrections for return to a state prison or correctional institution any county or city jail inmate who is a state parole violator, when notified by the Board of Prison Terms. (Amended by Stats. 1979, Ch. 255.)

The members of the board may for the purpose of considering applications for parole of prisoners from city or county jails, or industrial farms, or work furlough facilities, or industrial road camps, designate deputies of their respective offices to serve for them as temporary co…

Each county board shall not require, when setting terms or discharge dates, an admission of guilt to any crime for which an inmate was committed. (Added by Stats. 1976, Ch. 833.)

No prisoner shall be paroled without supervision. (Added by Stats. 1979, Ch. 117.)

A prisoner who is released on parole pursuant to this article shall be supervised by a county parole officer of the county board of parole commissioners. (Amended by Stats. 1991, Ch. 229, Sec. 2.)

(a) A county parole officer who is not a peace officer, as defined in Chapter 4.5 (commencing with Section 830) of Title 3 of Part 2, is a public officer who works at the direction of the County Board of Parole Commissioners, as provided for in Section 3075, and is responsible fo…

Trial juries for criminal actions are formed in the same manner as trial juries in civil actions. (Enacted 1872.)

(a) The issues on the calendar shall be disposed of in the following order, unless for good cause the court directs an action to be tried out of its order: (1) Prosecutions for felony, when the defendant is in custody. (2) Prosecutions for misdemeanor, when the defendant is in cu…

(a) In scheduling a trial date at an arraignment in superior court involving any of the following offenses, reasonable efforts shall be made to avoid setting that trial, when that case is assigned to a particular prosecuting attorney, on the same day that another case is set for …

Notwithstanding subdivision (b) of Section 1048, for good cause shown, the court may grant priority to an action for an alleged violation of Section 236.1 as the court, in its discretion, may determine to be appropriate. (Added by Stats. 2016, Ch. 644, Sec. 4. (AB 2498) Effective…

After his plea, the defendant is entitled to at least five days to prepare for trial. (Amended by Stats. 1927, Ch. 606.)

In felony cases, the court shall set a date for trial which is within 60 days of the defendant’s arraignment in the superior court unless, upon a showing of good cause as prescribed in Section 1050, the court lengthens the time. If the court, after a hearing as presecribed in Sec…

(a) The welfare of the people of the State of California requires that all proceedings in criminal cases shall be set for trial and heard and determined at the earliest possible time. To this end, the Legislature finds that the criminal courts are becoming increasingly congested …

In any case in which two or more defendants are jointly charged in the same complaint, indictment, or information, and the court or magistrate, for good cause shown, continues the arraignment, preliminary hearing, or trial of one or more defendants, the continuance shall, upon mo…

(a) When, pursuant to subdivision (c) of Section 1050, the court imposes sanctions for failure to comply with the provisions of subdivision (b) of Section 1050, the court may impose one or both of the following sanctions when the moving party is the prosecuting or defense attorne…

Upon a trial for any offense, if a defense witness testifies, there shall be good cause for a reasonable continuance unless the court finds that the prosecutor was or should, with due diligence, have been aware of such evidence. If the continuance is granted because of the defend…

Whenever a defendant has been convicted, in any court of this state, of the commission of a felony or misdemeanor and has been sentenced to and has entered upon a term of imprisonment in a state prison or has been sentenced to and has entered upon a term of imprisonment in a coun…

Whenever a defendant has been convicted of a crime and has entered upon a term of imprisonment therefor in a federal correctional institution located in this state, and at the time of entry upon such term of imprisonment or at any time during such term of imprisonment there is pe…

(a) The court, unless good cause to the contrary is shown, shall order the action to be dismissed in the following cases: (1) When a person has been held to answer for a public offense and an information is not filed against that person within 15 days. (2) In a felony case, when …

If the defendant is not charged or tried, as provided in Section 1382, and sufficient reason therefor is shown, the court may order the action to be continued from time to time, and in the meantime may discharge the defendant from custody on his or her own undertaking of bail for…

If the judge or magistrate directs the action to be dismissed, the defendant must, if in custody, be discharged therefrom; or if admitted to bail, his bail is exonerated, or money deposited instead of bail must be refunded to him or to the person or persons found by the court to …

(a) The judge or magistrate may, either on motion of the court or upon the application of the prosecuting attorney, and in furtherance of justice, order an action to be dismissed. The reasons for the dismissal shall be stated orally on the record. The court shall also set forth t…

Notwithstanding Section 1385 or any other provision of law, a judge shall not strike or dismiss any special circumstance which is admitted by a plea of guilty or nolo contendere or is found by a jury or court as provided in Sections 190.1 to 190.5, inclusive. (Added June 5, 1990,…

The entry of a nolle prosequi is abolished, and neither the Attorney General nor the district attorney can discontinue or abandon a prosecution for a public offense, except as provided in Section 1385. (Amended by Stats. 1987, Ch. 828, Sec. 93.)

(a) An order terminating an action pursuant to this chapter, or Section 859b, 861, 871, or 995, is a bar to any other prosecution for the same offense if it is a felony or if it is a misdemeanor charged together with a felony and the action has been previously terminated pursuant…

(a) Where an offense is a violent felony, as defined in Section 667.5 and the prosecution has had two prior dismissals, as defined in Section 1387, the people shall be permitted one additional opportunity to refile charges where either of the prior dismissals under Section 1387 w…