In Re Torres

INTRODUCTION

Penal Code section 3001, subdivision (a) provides that a person who has been released on parole for five years, and has been on parole continuously for three years since release from confinement, shall be discharged within 30 days, unless it is decided for good cause that the person will be retained on parole.

Nicholas Torres (petitioner) was released to serve a five-year parole term in November 2005. Torres was on parole continuously for three years. In December 2008, during the 30-day review period when the Board of Parole Hearings (Board) was required to determine whether to retain petitioner on parole, petitioner was returned to custody on a parole violation charge. The Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (Department) did not recommend that petitioner be retained on parole, and the Board did not retain petitioner on parole, during the 30-day review period.

The Board revoked petitioner’s parole in February 2009 after concluding that he had violated a condition of his parole, and retained him on parole in March 2009. Petitioner filed a petition for habeas corpus, arguing that under section 3001(a), his parole term had expired by operation of law…