What should happen when I reach my presumptive discharge date (PDD)?
If you are entitled to a PDD by law, then the Board of Parole Hearings (BPH) must conduct a discharge review hearing within 30 days of your PDD.[391] At this hearing, BPH must decide whether to let you off early based on your parole agent’s report (submitted to the BPH on CDCR Form 1502).[392] In this report, your parole agent will make a recommendation either for or against letting you off parole early,[393] considering factors like:
- (1) Commitment Offense: Whether the original offense involved weapons or great bodily harm; was part of large-scale criminal activity; or caused considerable concern in the local community.
- (2) Institutional Adjustment: Whether you were involved in serious gang activities or acts of violence in prison.
- (3) Parole adjustment: Whether you have followed your parole conditions, or were involved in any criminal behavior or activities (including using drugs or involvement in gang activities).
WHAT IS A “MISTAKE OF FACT”?
A “mistake of fact” is a legal term used to describe an error that someone makes because he or she doesn’t know the facts of what really happened.
- (4) Placement Returns: Whether you were returned to custody for controlled substance or psychiatric treatment.
- (5) Supervision Needed: Continued supervision needed for your safety or the safety of the public.[394]
What if CDCR or Parole staff makes a mistake in the report?
If your parole agent (or another CDCR or Parole staff) makes a “mistake of fact” in the report to the BPH recommending to keep you on parole, you can file a “CDCR Form 602” administrative appeal challenging the mistake.[395] The steps for filing an administrative appeal are described on PG. 178.
WHAT IS “GOOD CAUSE”?
“Good cause” basically means “good reason.” According to CDCR, to find good cause for a decision is to find it more likely than not — by a “preponderance of the evidence” — that the decision is based on true facts and solid reasons. (15 Cal. Code Regs.§ 2000(b)(50)).
If the reviewers of your 602 appeal find that there was a significant mistake in your parole agent’s report to the BPH, and that this mistake led to you being kept on parole past your PDD, they can change the recommendation and ask the BPH to reconsider its decision so that you will be discharged from parole.[396] Alternatively, if there is no mistake in the parole agent’s report, but you believe that the BPH has decided to keep you on parole without “good cause” (a good reason), you may want to challenge the BPH decision directly; in that case, you do not need to file a 602 appeal.[397] For information about how to challenge a BPH action directly, go to PG. 155.
- 391
Cal. Penal Code § 3001. See also Prison Law Office, The Parolee Rights Manual, at 30, http://www.prisonlaw.com/pdfs/ParoleeManual,Aug2013.pdf (updated Aug. 2013). ↑
- 392
15 Cal. Code Regs. § 3721.1. ↑
- 393
15 Cal. Code Regs. §§ 3721-3723. ↑
- 394
15 Cal. Code Regs. § 2535. ↑
- 395
15 Cal. Code Regs. §§ 3721-3723. ↑
- 396
15 Cal. Code Regs. § 3723. ↑
- 397
See Cal. Penal Code §§ 290, 457.1, 186.30; Cal. Health & Safety Code § 11590. ↑