Should a Petitioner Who Is Not at Liberty on Parole Due to Restrictions Imposed on Him Be Awarded Credit ?

In Torres v. Pennsylvania Bd. of Probation and Parole, 861 A.2d 394 (Pa. Cmwlth. 2004), the petitioner was forbidden to leave his facility for the first forty-five days of his stay and was under 24-hour supervision during that time. Moreover, he was not permitted to make required trips outside the facility without an escort for that initial period of time. Because of these restrictions, we reversed the Board and held that the petitioner was not at "liberty on parole" during that period of time and awarded him credit. Id. at 401. The Court also noted in Torres that "although no formulation will apply to all potential individual circumstances, the facts in Jackson, Meehan and Wagner demonstrate that ordinary restrictions such as those that attend many inpatient treatment programs are not so onerous as to require a credit." Id. at 400.