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​E - H definitions

Employment Plan
Employer or company name; business address; contact person’ name/title, and business phone number

Hearing Examiner
An agent of the Parole Board who is empowered to sit on parole revocation panels, conduct parole hearings in lieu of panels and conduct parole interviews on behalf of the Parole Board

Federal Detainer
A warrant lodged by any branch of the Federal Government

Firearm Education Training Commission (FETC)
Provides Pennsylvania county probation and parole departments firearms education and training programs, improves knowledge and competence with firearms, thus enhancing the safety and security of the citizens in the Commonwealth

Front Time
The minimum sentence imposed upon an inmate by the sentencing court, the amount of time an offender spends incarcerated prior to being initially released on parole

Fugitive Apprehension Search Team (FAST)
Specialized field units and/or parole agents whose caseloads are structured to focus time and resources to locating and apprehending absconders. These Board staff are deputized by the U.S. Marshals Service through a Memorandum of Understanding partnership.

Gagnon I Hearing
A first-level, probable cause hearing held by a court or a probation officer to determine whether there is sufficient evidence to charge an individual with a violation of probation or parole

Gagnon II Hearing
A second-level, fact-finding hearing held by a common pleas court to determine whether an individual has in fact violated the terms and conditions of probation or parole and, if so, whether the person should be sent to prison as a violator or continued on probation or parole

General Conditions
Terms or requirements of parole promulgated by the Board and codified in 37 Pa. Code § 63.4.  These conditions apply to all parolees

Good Time
As used in connection with technical parole violators, that time spent on parole in compliance with the terms and conditions of parole; which time is credited against an offender's maximum sentence upon recommitment as a technical parole violator; equivalent of "time on parole in good standing" or "street time"

Habeas Corpus
A Latin phrase meaning “you have the body”; an independent proceeding instituted to determine whether a defendant, usually a prisoner, is being unlawfully deprived of his/her liberty (unlawfully imprisoned)

Hearings (Types)
Cox: An evidentiary hearing to determine if a parolee’s stay at a Community Corrections Center is the equivalence of incarceration

Detention: A hearing, held within 30 days of parolee’s detention, unless waived or a criminal preliminary hearing has previously been held, to determine whether there is probable cause that a parolee should be detained or returned pending disposition of a new criminal charge

Preliminary: A hearing, held no later than 14 days after parolee’s detention, to determine whether there is probable cause to believe that a parolee has committed a violation of a condition of parole

Rescission: A hearing to decide whether there is good cause for rescinding parole

Revocation: A hearing, held within 120 days of a plea of guilty, nolo contendere, or a guilty verdict, or from official notification of return to a state institution if detained elsewhere, to determine whether a parolee should be recommitted as a convicted parole violator

Violation: A hearing, held no later than 120 days from the preliminary hearing, to determine whether a parolee should be recommitted as a technical violator

High Risk Behavior
Behaviors that epidemiological evidence indicates increase the risk of contracting HIV, other blood-borne pathogens, or infectious diseases

Home Plan
The residence where the inmate plans to live upon release from incarceration