Barge v. Pennsylvania Board of Probation & Parole

I write in support of the Court’s per curiam affirmance of the order of the Commonwealth Court in this case, in order to highlight two points.1

Appellants, who are represented by counsel, are convicted sexual offenders sentenced to state prison time, who have qualified for and been “granted” parole by the Pennsylvania Board of Probation and Parole (“PBPP”), which determined that they present no or low risk of harm to society. But, in their cases at least, the grant of parole was illusory: their release to halfway houses (whether run by the Department of Corrections (“DOC”) or contracted by the…