Summary
This Oklahoma Attorney General Opinion addresses whether the Executive Director of the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board may place an inmate on a medical parole docket without a request from the Director of the Department of Corrections. The opinion concludes that the DOC Director has exclusive authority to initiate a medical parole request under 57 O.S. § 332.18, and that the PPB Executive Director may not act without that request. It also concludes that the statutory procedure does not unconstitutionally infringe on the executive branch’s parole authority.
Topics
Practice areas
Questions Presented
- Whether the Executive Director of the Pardon and Parole Board may place an inmate on the medical-parole docket at the request of someone other than the Director of the Department of Corrections.
- Whether the Executive Director of the Pardon and Parole Board must or may place a qualifying medically ill inmate on the medical-parole docket absent a request from the Director of the Department of Corrections.
- Whether requiring a request from the Director of the Department of Corrections unconstitutionally infringes on the executive branch's parole authority under article VI, section 10, of the Oklahoma Constitution.
Holdings
- The Director of the Department of Corrections has the sole authority to request that an inmate be placed on the Pardon and Parole Board's medical-parole docket. The Pardon and Parole Board Executive Director may not place an inmate on the docket at the request of any other party.
- Absent a request from the Director of the Department of Corrections, the Pardon and Parole Board Executive Director is neither mandated nor authorized to place on the medical-parole docket an inmate who is dying, near death, medically frail, medically vulnerable, or whose medical condition has rendered the inmate no longer an unreasonable threat to public safety.
- The requirement that the medical-parole process be initiated by a request from the Director of the Department of Corrections does not unconstitutionally infringe the executive branch's parole authority under article VI, section 10, of the Oklahoma Constitution.
Key quotations
“First, an inmate must be dying, near death, medically frail, medically vulnerable, or have a medical condition that has rendered the inmate no longer an unreasonable threat to public safety as defined in title 57, section 332.18(F). Second, the inmate's condition must be certified by the DOC medical director. Third, the DOC Director must request that the PPB Executive Director place the inmate on the PPB's docket based on these medical reasons.” (¶5)
“Ultimately, the PPB still has authority to recommend parole, and the Governor still has the final decision to grant parole.” (¶16)
Factual background
The opinion concerns Oklahoma's statutory medical-parole process. Under 57 O.S. § 332.18, the Director of the Department of Corrections may request that the Executive Director of the Pardon and Parole Board place an inmate on the Board's docket for a medical reason, with the inmate's condition certified by the Department of Corrections medical director. Subsection B requires placement on the first available docket when a qualifying medical condition exists and a request for medical-parole review has been made.
Procedural history
The Executive Director of the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board requested an Attorney General opinion addressing who may request placement of an inmate on the medical-parole docket and whether the Pardon and Parole Board Executive Director may or must act without a request from the Director of the Department of Corrections. The Attorney General answered both questions in the negative as to independent action by the Pardon and Parole Board Executive Director and also addressed the constitutionality of the statutory request requirement.