Parolee's Time Spent In Custody Awaiting Trial for a New Sentence

In Jones v. Pennsylvania Board of Probation and Parole, 872 A.2d 1283 (Pa. Cmwlth), appeal denied, 586 Pa. 731, 890 A.2d 1061 (2005), a delinquent parolee was arrested on a Board warrant. While held on the warrant, he was also arrested for a DUI offense which occurred several months earlier. He did not post bail on the new DUI charge. The parolee remained in custody for a period of 4 months and 17 days before sentencing. The parolee was sentenced to 48 hours to 12 months on the new DUI charge, and was ultimately paroled on the new sentence after 48 hours. Applying an "equitable treatment" standard derived from Martin v. Pa. Bd. of Prob. & Parole, 840 A.2d 299, 309 (Pa. 2003), the Court required the Board to account for the full time spent in pre-trial confinement. Jones, 872 A.2d at 1285. The Jones decision has been limited by other cases. Thus, as previously discussed, in Johnson v. Murray, 888 A.2d 28, and other cases, this Court held that where a parolee is detained on new county charges and a Board detainer, a sentencing court lacks authority to parole the individual on a date prior to the actual sentencing date on the new charges. Also, in Armbruster v. Pennsylvania Board of Probation and Parole, 919 A.2d 348 (Pa. Cmwlth. 2007), this Court declined to apply Jones unless a parolee's new sentence was less than the time spent in custody awaiting trial.