COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE
FOR
H.
B.
4172
(By Delegates Trump, Faircloth, Ellis and Manuel)
(Originating in the House Committee on the Judiciary)
[February 24, 1994]
A BILL to amend article one, chapter seven of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, by adding thereto a new section, designated section three-gg, relating to recovery of costs of confinement from persons confined in county or regional jails by county commissions.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That article one, chapter seven of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, be amended by adding thereto a new section, designated section three-gg, to read as follows:
ARTICLE 1. COUNTY COMMISSIONS GENERALLY.
§
7-1-3gg. Recovery of costs from inmates.
Whenever any person shall be confined in a county jail or in a regional jail in this state upon a sentence, the county commission of the county which shall have paid for the inmate's confinement shall be entitled to recover from said inmate the costs thereof.
Civil actions to collect and recover said costs may be filed by the county commission in the magistrate court or circuit court of the county in which the inmate was sentenced.
In any such action, the county commission shall be permitted to prosecute the same without paying fees or costs, and without providing bond or security, as may otherwise be required of civil litigants by the provisions of this code, and the county commission shall have all services and process, including the services of witnesses, without paying therefor:
Provided,
That where the county commission recovers in or as a result of such action, whether by way of settlement or judgment, such fees and costs shall be recoverable from the defendant, and upon recovery thereof, the county commission shall pay such fees or costs to the officer who otherwise would have been entitled thereto, but for the provisions of this section.