Senate Bill No. 606
(By Senators Love, Schoonover, Helmick and Ross)
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[Introduced February 22, 1999;
referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.]
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A BILL to repeal section five, article four, chapter twenty-five
of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred
thirty-one, as amended; and to amend and reenact sections
one, two, three, four, six, seven, eight, nine and ten of
said article, all relating to the operation of centers for
housing young adult offenders.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section five, article four, chapter twenty-five of the
code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as
amended, be repealed; and that sections one, two, three, four,
six, seven, eight, nine and ten of said article, be amended and
reenacted, all to read as follows:
ARTICLE 4. CENTERS FOR HOUSING YOUNG ADULT OFFENDERS.
§25-4-1. Purpose of article.
The purpose of this article is to provide appropriate
facilities for the housing of youthful male young adult offenders
convicted of or pleading guilty to violation of law before courts
with original jurisdiction, or juvenile courts who are amenable
to discipline other than in close confinement, to secure a better
classification, and segregation of such persons according to
their capabilities, interests, and responsiveness to control and
responsibility; to reduce the necessity of expanding the existing
grounds and housing facilities for the confinement of such
persons and to give better opportunity to youthful young adult
offenders for reformation and encouragement of self-discipline.
§25-4-2. Establishment of centers.
The West Virginia commissioner of public institutions
corrections is authorized to establish, operate and maintain
centers to be operated in connection with the state penal
correctional system as herein provided in this article.
§25-4-3. Authority of commissioner of corrections.
The West Virginia commissioner of public institutions is
hereby given corrections has the authority to acquire land and
other property by purchase, grant, gift or otherwise in
connection with the establishment of centers and to construct
such buildings, fences and other facilities, and to acquire such
personal property as is necessary for the maintenance and operation of such the centers; to direct all needed improvements
and repairs necessary for the proper upkeep of such the centers,
and to provide for the necessary food, medical treatment and
safekeeping of persons confined therein in the centers; and to
employ personnel to operate the centers and to provide the
necessary work and other programs for the offenders assigned to
the centers.
§25-4-4. Warden.
Each center shall be under the direction of a superintendent
warden, who shall have the minimum qualification of a college
degree with a major in sociology criminal justice or a related
field. and be trained and experienced in dealing with youths He
The warden shall be paid an annual salary to be fixed by the
commissioner of corrections. The warden, subject to the
authority of the commissioner, has the responsibility for the
overall operation of the center.
At each center the superintendent warden shall provide a
training program administer programming which shall include the
following four separate, well-integrated components: (1) A work
program; (2) an educational program in accordance with section
thirteen-f, article two, chapter eighteen of this code; (3) a
recreational program; and (4) individual and group a counseling
program with an emphasis on substance abuse and life skills.
§25-4-6. Assignment of offenders to center; period of center
confinement; return to court; sentence or
probation; revocation of probation.
The judge of any court with original criminal jurisdiction
may suspend the imposition of sentence of any male youth young
adult, as defined in this section, convicted of or pleading
guilty to a criminal offense, other than an offense punishable by
life imprisonment, who has attained his sixteenth or her
eighteenth birthday but has not reached his or her twenty-first
birthday at the time of the commission of the crime, and commit
him the young adult to the custody of the West Virginia
commissioner of public institutions corrections to be assigned to
a center. Young adult offenders who have previously been
committed to a young adult offender center are not eligible for
commitment to this program. The period of confinement in the
center shall be for a period of not less than six months, or
longer if it is deemed advisable by the center superintendent
warden, but in any event such the period of confinement shall may
not exceed two years. The court shall provide the warden with a
copy of the presentence investigation report, along with the
commitment order.
If, in the opinion of the superintendent such male warden,
the young adult offender proves to be an unfit person to remain in such a the center, he the offender shall be returned to the
committing court which committed him to be dealt with further
according to law. In such that event, the court may place him on
probation or sentence him for the crime for which he has been
sentence the offender for the crime for which the offender was
convicted. In his or her discretion, the judge may allow the
defendant credit on his the sentence for time he has the offender
spent in the center.
A young adult offender shall be returned to the jurisdiction
of the court which originally committed the offender when, in the
opinion of the superintendent any boy warden, the young adult
offender has satisfactorily completed the center training
program. such male offender shall be returned to the
jurisdiction of the court which originally committed him. He
shall be The offender is then eligible for probation for the
offense with which he the offender is charged, and the judge of
the court shall immediately place him the offender on probation.
In the event his the offender's probation is subsequently
revoked, by the judge he shall be given impose the sentence he
the young adult offender would have originally received had he
the offender not been committed to the center and subsequently
placed on probation. The court shall, however, give the
defendant offender credit on his or her sentence for the time he spent in the center.
Any male youth between the ages of ten and eighteen
committed by the judge of any court of competent jurisdiction for
any of the causes, and in the manner prescribed in article five,
chapter forty-nine of this code, may, if such youth is or has
attained the age of sixteen, be placed in a center or transferred
from the industrial school or like facility to a center and back
to such facility by the commissioner of public institutions, if
he deems it proper for the youth's detention and rehabilitation.
§25-4-7. Physical, educational and psychological examinations;
transfer and placement.
Every youthful young adult offender committed hereunder
under this article shall be given complete physical, educational
and psychological examinations in the same manner and under the
same protections and requirements of subsections (b) and (c),
section two, article one, chapter twenty-eight of this code. In
addition thereto to those requirements, all admission, transfer
and placement requirements and authority provided to the
commissioner in subsections (d) and (e), section two, article
one, chapter twenty-eight of this code shall be are applicable.
§25-4-8. Labor, study or activities may be required.
Offenders assigned to centers may be required to labor on
the buildings and grounds of the center, in the making of forest roads, for fire prevention and fire fighting, on forestation and
reforestation of public lands, on the making of fire trails and
firebreaks, on fire suppression, on building or improving public
parks or lands, or engage in any studies or activities prescribed
or permitted by the superintendent warden, subject to the
approval of the commissioner of public institutions corrections.
§25-4-9. Wages of offenders.
The West Virginia commissioner of corrections may provide
for the payment of wages to the offenders assigned to centers for
the work they perform. which wages shall not exceed two dollars
for each day's work performed, the sums earned to be paid to the
parents or dependents of the offender or to the offender himself,
in such manner and in such proportions as the superintendent
directs
§25-4-10. Authority to arrest inmates.
All officers and employees of a center shall have the power
of peace officers so far as necessary to arrest take into custody
center inmates.
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(NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to update the law that
provides for centers for the confinement of youthful male law
offenders. The bill clarifies that the centers are for young
adult offenders.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken
from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language further that would be added.)