PRINTER'S NO. 4289
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA
HOUSE BILL
No.
2731
Session of
2018
INTRODUCED BY METZGAR, RAPP, IRVIN, WATSON, REESE, SNYDER,
BURNS, GROVE, B. O'NEILL, BERNSTINE, TOPPER, A. HARRIS,
MILLARD, HANNA, DOWLING, DeLUCA, SAYLOR, WARD, GOODMAN,
MARSHALL, SCHLEGEL CULVER, SANKEY, GILLEN, MASSER AND DUSH,
OCTOBER 17, 2018
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON JUDICIARY, OCTOBER 17, 2018
AN ACT
Amending Title 18 (Crimes and Offenses) of the Pennsylvania
Consolidated Statutes, in assault, further providing for the
offense of assault by prisoner, for the offense of aggravated
harassment by prisoner and for the offense of assault by life
prisoner.
The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
hereby enacts as follows:
Section 1. Sections 2703, 2703.1 and 2704 of Title 18 of the
Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes are amended to read:
§ 2703. Assault by prisoner.
(a) Offense defined.--A person who is confined in or
committed to any local or county detention facility, jail or
prison or any State penal or correctional institution or other
State penal or correctional facility located in this
Commonwealth is guilty of a felony of the second degree if he,
while so confined or committed or while undergoing
transportation to or from such an institution or facility in or
to which he was confined or committed intentionally or
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knowingly, commits an assault upon another with a deadly weapon
or instrument, or by any means or force likely to produce
serious bodily injury. A person is guilty of this offense if he
intentionally or knowingly causes another to come into contact
with blood, seminal fluid, saliva, urine or feces by throwing,
tossing, spitting or expelling such fluid or material when, at
the time of the offense, the person knew, had reason to know,
should have known or believed such fluid or material to have
been obtained from an individual, including the person charged
under this section, infected by a communicable disease,
including, but not limited to, human immunodeficiency virus
(HIV) or hepatitis B.
(b) Consecutive sentences.--The court shall order that any
sentence imposed for a violation of subsection (a), or any
sentence imposed for a violation of section 2702(a) (relating to
aggravated assault) [where] if the victim is a detention
facility or correctional facility employee, be served
consecutively with the person's current sentence.
(c) Parole.--If the victim is a detention facility or
correctional facility employee, a person sentenced under this
section shall not be eligible for parole.
§ 2703.1. Aggravated harassment by prisoner.
(a) Offense defined.--A person who is confined in or
committed to any local or county detention facility, jail or
prison or any State penal or correctional institution or other
State penal or correctional facility located in this
Commonwealth commits a felony of the third degree if he, while
so confined or committed or while undergoing transportation to
or from such an institution or facility in or to which he was
confined or committed, intentionally or knowingly causes or
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attempts to cause another to come into contact with blood,
seminal fluid, saliva, urine or feces by throwing, tossing,
spitting or expelling such fluid or material.
(b) Parole.--If the victim is a detention facility or
correctional facility employee, a person sentenced under this
section shall not be eligible for parole.
§ 2704. Assault by life prisoner.
(a) Offense defined.--Every person who has been sentenced to
death or life imprisonment in any penal institution located in
this Commonwealth, and whose sentence has not been commuted, who
commits an aggravated assault with a deadly weapon or instrument
upon another, or by any means of force likely to produce serious
bodily injury, is guilty of a crime, the penalty for which shall
be the same as the penalty for murder of the second degree. A
person is guilty of this offense if he intentionally or
knowingly causes another to come into contact with blood,
seminal fluid, saliva, urine or feces by throwing, tossing,
spitting or expelling such fluid or material when, at the time
of the offense, the person knew, had reason to know, should have
known or believed such fluid or material to have been obtained
from an individual, including the person charged under this
section, infected by a communicable disease, including, but not
limited to, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) or hepatitis B.
(b) Mandatory sentencing.--There shall be no authority in
any court to impose on an offender to which this section is
applicable a lesser sentence than provided for under this
section or to place the offender on probation, parole or work
release or to suspend sentence. Nothing in this section shall
prevent the sentencing court from imposing a sentence greater
than provided under this section. Sentencing guidelines
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promulgated by the Pennsylvania Commission on Sentencing shall
not supersede the mandatory sentences provided under this
section.
Section 2. This act shall take effect in 60 days.
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