Terhune

The Board of Prison Terms (the Board) has promulgated numerous regulations relating to conditions of parole and revocation of parole, which appear in title 15 of the California Code of Regulations. Section 2616 of those regulations lists “kinds of behavior” that must be reported to the Board as a parole violation. Subdivision (a)(7) of section 2616 (hereafter section 2616(a)(7)), states: “Psychiatric Treatment. Facts indicating the parolee is suffering from a mental disorder which substantially impairs the parolee’s ability to maintain himself or herself in the community, or which makes the parolee a danger to himself/herself or others, when necessary psychiatric treatment cannot be obtained in the community.”

The inmate in this case served a determinate prison term. After his initial parole release date passed, but before he was released into the community, his parole was revoked twice, based solely on section 2616(a)(7). As we will explain, we conclude that under all the circumstances here, the parole revocation was an act in excess of the Board’s statutory authority.

Factual and Procedural Background

A. Introduction

An understanding of the factual and procedural…