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Section 54-130a – (Formerly Sec. 18-26). Jurisdiction and authority of board to grant commutations of punishment, releases, pardons and certificates of rehabilitation

May 11, 2021 | Connecticut, Criminal Procedure

(a) Jurisdiction over the granting of, and the authority to grant, commutations of punishment or releases, conditioned or absolute, in the case of any person convicted of any offense against the state and commutations from the penalty of death shall be vested in the Board of Pardons and Paroles.
(b) The board shall have authority to grant pardons, conditioned, provisional or absolute, or certificates of rehabilitation for any offense against the state at any time after the imposition and before or after the service of any sentence.
(c) The board may accept an application for a pardon three years after an applicant’s conviction of a misdemeanor or violation and five years after an applicant’s conviction of a felony, except that the board, upon a finding of extraordinary circumstances, may accept an application for a pardon prior to such dates.
(d) Whenever the board grants an absolute pardon to any person, the board shall cause notification of such pardon to be made in writing to the clerk of the court in which such person was convicted, or the Office of the Chief Court Administrator if such person was convicted in the Court of Common Pleas, the Circuit Court, a municipal court, or a trial justice court.
(e) Whenever the board grants a provisional pardon or a certificate of rehabilitation to any person, the board shall cause notification of such provisional pardon or certificate of rehabilitation to be made in writing to the clerk of the court in which such person was convicted. The granting of a provisional pardon or a certificate of rehabilitation does not entitle such person to erasure of the record of the conviction of the offense or relieve such person from disclosing the existence of such conviction as may be required.
(f) In the case of any person convicted of a violation for which a sentence to a term of imprisonment may be imposed, the board shall have authority to grant a pardon, conditioned, provisional or absolute, or a certificate of rehabilitation in the same manner as in the case of any person convicted of an offense against the state.

Conn. Gen. Stat. ยง 54-130a

(1949 Rev., S. 3020; 1959, P.A. 410, S. 4; P.A. 74-163, S. 5; P.A. 76-388, S. 5, 6; 76-436, S. 10a, 595, 681; P.A. 04-234, S. 2; P.A. 06-187, S. 86; P.A. 07-57, S. 1; P.A. 14-27, S. 1.)

Amended by P.A. 14-0027, S. 1 of the Connecticut Acts of the 2014 Regular Session, eff. 10/1/2014.

Annotations to former section 18-26: Cited. 124 C. 123; 145 Conn. 60; 152 Conn. 601. Board may revoke an absolute commutation prior to actual release of prisoner if factual basis for commutation proves to be erroneous and justification for granting commutation thereby abrogated. 206 C. 267. Cited. 208 Conn. 420. Cited. 15 Conn.App. 161; 26 Conn.App. 132. Cited. 26 CS 181; 35 CS 516.