Greenleaf Bills to Clarify and Consolidate Laws Pass Senate

HARRISBURG – The State Senate this week approved Senate Bills 73 and 623, both of which are sponsored by Sen. Stewart J. Greenleaf, R-Montgomery/Bucks.

The aim of Senate Bill 73 is to consolidate into one body of law all laws pertaining to prisons, probation and parole.  The codification process would affect statutes contained in Purdon's Title 61, entitled "Penal Institutions," by repealing obsolete acts—some of which date to 1819, modernizing terminology and clarifying and organizing laws by subject matter without making substantive changes.  The goal of codification is to improve the accessibility of the laws in Title 61 to the public and the General Assembly.

Senate Bill 623 would clarify statutorily the powers of corrections officers regarding the use of deadly force when there has been an escape from a correctional institution.  The measure would amend a section of the Crimes Code to add a definition of "corrections officer" as a full-time Department of Corrections employee whose principal duty is the care, custody and control of inmates of a penal or correctional institution operated by the department.  It would amend another section of the Crimes Code to authorize a corrections officer to use whatever force is necessary to prevent death or serious bodily injury to himself or another, or when the officer believes that deadly force is necessary to overcome resistance and capture the escapee when the person being pursued has been convicted of a forcible felony, possesses a deadly weapon, or otherwise indicates that he will endanger others unless apprehended without delay.

The measure is consistent with current Department of Corrections policy, but would provide a statutory basis for the authority of corrections officers to use deadly force when there has been an escape and the escapee poses a danger and resists capture.