COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE

FOR

Senate Bill No. 177

(By Senators Love, Dawson, Ball, Mitchell, Hunter and Sprouse)

____________

[Originating in the Committee on the Judiciary;

reported February 3, 2000.]

____________


A BILL to repeal section six, article five, chapter twenty-eight of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty- one, as amended; and to amend and reenact section three-a, article one, chapter twenty-five of said code, relating to inmate funds; requiring commissioner to make an annual report regarding the average cost of incarceration; and authorizing the division of corrections to collect certain costs from inmates.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section six, article five, chapter twenty-eight of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, be repealed; and that section three-a, article one, chapter twenty-five of said code, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 1. ORGANIZATION AND INSTITUTIONS.

§25-1-3a. Trustee accounts and funds, earnings and personal property of inmates.

(a) The commissioner of public institutions corrections is hereby authorized and empowered to establish at each institution under his or her jurisdiction except the West Virginia Penitentiary at Moundsville, the Medium Security Prison at Huttonsville and the State Prison for Women at Pence Springs, a "superintendent's a "trustee fund". The superintendent warden or administrator of each institution when such is deemed necessary, shall receive and take charge of the money and valuables personal property, as defined by policy, of all inmates in his or her institution and all money or valuables personal property, as defined by policy, sent to such the inmates or earned by such the inmates as compensation for work performed while they are domiciled there. The superintendent warden or administrator shall credit such the money and earnings to the inmate entitled thereto to it and shall keep an accurate account of all such money and valuables personal property so received, which account shall be is subject to examination by the state commissioner of public institutions corrections. The superintendent warden or administrator shall deposit such the moneys in one or more responsible banks in accounts to be designated superintendent's a "trustee fund".
(b) For all inmates, except those serving life without mercy, the warden or administrator shall keep in an account at least ten percent of all money earned during the inmate's incarceration and pay same to the inmate at the time of the inmate's release.
(c) The commissioner of corrections may direct that offenders who work in community work programs, including work release inmates who have obtained employment, make reimbursement to the state towards the cost of his or her incarceration.
(d) (1) Prior to ordering an incarcerated offender to make reimbursement towards the costs of his or her incarceration, the commissioner, or his or her designee, shall consider the following:
(A) The offender's ability to pay;
(B) The nature and extent of the offender's responsibilities to his or her dependents, if any;
(C) The length of probable incarceration under the court's sentence; and
(D) The effect, if any, that reimbursement might have on the offender's rehabilitation.
(2) No order of reimbursement entered pursuant to this section may exceed five hundred dollars per month unless the offender gives his or her express consent.
(3) The commissioner of corrections shall, prior to the beginning of each fiscal year, prepare a report that details the average cost per inmate incurred by the division for the care and supervision of those individuals in his or her custody.
(e) The chief executive officer of any correctional institution, on request of an inmate, may expend up to one half of the money earned by the inmate on behalf of the family of the inmate if the ten percent mandatory savings has first been set aside and other fees owed by the inmate have been paid. The remainder of the money earned, after deducting amounts expended as authorized, shall be accumulated to the credit of the inmate and be paid to the inmate at times as may be prescribed by rules. The funds so accumulated on behalf of inmates shall be held by the chief executive officer of each institution, under a bond approved by the attorney general.
(f) The superintendent warden or administrator shall deliver to the inmate at the time he or she leaves the institution, or as soon as practicable thereafter, all valuables personal property, moneys and earnings then credited to him the inmate, or in case of the death of such the inmate before leaving authorized release from the institution, the superintendent warden or administrator shall deliver such the property to his the inmate's personal representative. Provided, however, That In case a committee conservator is appointed for such the inmate while he or she is domiciled at the institution, the superintendent warden or administrator shall deliver to such committee the conservator, upon proper demand, all moneys and valuables personal property belonging to the inmate which that are in the custody of the superintendent warden or administrator.
_______


(NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to update and organize procedures related to trustee accounts, earnings and personal property of inmates as they apply to all institutions in the Division of Corrections. It also codifies the commissioner's authority and historical procedure to charge incarceration fees to inmates.

Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would be added.)