Court Opinion

ID: 9629555
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 09:44:48.617251+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:07:20.924966
License: Public Domain

PAPADAKOS, Justice,
concurring.
I join with the majority but write separately to point out that had the Board followed the statute and recommitted the Appellant to serve the remainder of his term as a convicted violator, we would have been saved the burden of expending precious judicial time on this case.
The pertinent provisions of the Pennsylvania Board of Parole Act, Act of August 6, 1941, P.L. 861, § 21.1, added August 24, 1951, P.L. 1401, § 5, as amended June 28, 1957, P.L. 429, § 1, 61 P.S. § 331.21a, provides as follows:
(a) Convicted violators. Any parolee under the jurisdiction of the Pennsylvania Board of Parole released from any penal institution of the Commonwealth who, during the period of parole or while delinquent on parole, commits any crime punishable by imprisonment, for which he is convicted or found guilty by a judge or jury or to which he pleads guilty or nolo contendere at any time thereafter in a court of record may, at the discretion of the board, be recommitted as a parole violator. If his recommitment is so ordered, he shall be reentered to serve the remainder of the term which said parolee would have been compelled to serve had he not been paroled, and he shall be given no credit for the time at liberty on parole, (emphasis added)
*106The above quoted section is clear, concise and unambiguous and admits of no discretion in the time to be served by a convicted violator if the board exercises its discretion to recommit. The board cannot adopt regulations to contradict the meaning of the statute. If the board wishes to reparole at a later time, that is a different matter. I do not believe the board can exercise its discretion to reparole at the time it orders recommitment. The practice of commingling recommitments for convicted and technical violations arising out of the same criminal occurrences causes confusion and repetitious appeals that would be eliminated if the board would only follow the law and reenter the convicted violator to serve the full term remaining on the sentence.