The Wolf Administration announced Thursday it is moving forward with a combination of "similar, shared and overlapping functions" in the state Department of Corrections and the Pennsylvania Board of Probation and Parole.
The consolidation will take effect immediately upon signing of an agreement this week by Corrections Secretary John Wetzel and Parole Board Chairman Leo Dunn.
The main impact of the move will be to combine street supervision of parolees and other community re-entry services - like development of home plans or parole violation management - under a new, centralized chain of command.
Corrections Secretary John Wetzel said the move will promote consistency in re-entry programming and, hopefully, smoother transitions for inmates moving from prison back to the community.
But Leo Dunn, the chair of the state parole board, noted the agreement does not change its independent role as the arbiter of whether a specific state prison inmate is eligible for release or not.
"The board will continue to exercise its exclusive and independent decision-making role with regard to decisions to parole... recommit for violations of parole and to discharged persons sentenced by any court at any time to imprisonment," Dunn said.
Here's an example of the overlaps that can exist at present:
Currently, community corrections centers - commonly known as half-way houses - are operated and staffed by the Department of Corrections, but the residents of the centers are entirely parolees.
The Board of Probation and Parole, meanwhile, assigns institutional parole agents to work inside state prisons.
All state parole agents would fall under the new command structure. Besides parolee supervision, the agreement would cover the agencies' business administration, communications, internal affairs and investigative offices.
Other functions, including data and research offices, had already been consolidated.
Two other key functions of the Board of Probation and Parole, the state Office of Victim Advocate and the Sex Offender Assessment Board, will also continue to operate outside the Corrections Department.
The move drew criticism Thursday by senior staff in the Republican-dominated General Assembly, including some whose bosses have actually supported a full merger of the two agencies in the past.
"Conceptually, we support merging agencies and streamlining government, if they fit," said Steve Miskin, spokesman for House Majority Leader David Reed, R-Indiana County.
Miskin said the Corrections / Probation and Parole combination "is something being looked at, and as budget talks were occurring... all sides agreed the mergers were off the table for now.
"This governing by decree is not what the founders envisioned."
Drew Crompton, chief of staff and counsel to Senate President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati, R-Jefferson County, noted that the law that the governor pinned the action on generally applies to back-office functions like purchasing or human resources work that all departments do.
"This MOU (memorandum of understanding) goes far beyond back-office stuff," Crompton said. "This is substantive changes by glorified executive order."
But Wolf officials said they not only believe they have the authority to make the move; they believe it is in keeping with what most in the Legislature want.
"We are giving legislators exactly what they have been calling for - a taxpayer savings through the restructuring of state government; and we're doing so in a way that continues to provide for public safety," the governor said.
The Pennsylvania Senate did pass legislation in May approving a full merger of the two agencies on a 38-12 vote; that bill has not received any consideration in the House of Representatives to date.
While first-year financial savings from Thursday's move are estimated at only $9.8 million, Wetzel said he is hopeful the newly-streamlined focus will pay bigger dividends in the long run through better transitions out of prison for ex-convicts.
"Our goal is to have individuals leave our custody less likely to commit a new crime and to be better than when they first came to us," Wetzel said.
"This is about using all of the commonwealth's resources wisely with the final goal being less crime and fewer victims."
No layoffs are expected as a result of the consolidation, Wolf Administration officials said, and all affected employees will continue to be receive pay and benefits according to their current union contracts.