H. B. 3192


(By Mr. Speaker, Mr. Kiss, and Delegates Staton, Michael,

Manuel, Givens and Webster)

[Introduced March 30, 2001; referred to the

Committee on the Judiciary.]




A BILL to amend article twenty, chapter thirty-one of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, by adding thereto a new section, designated section five-d, all relating generally to the awarding of good time credit in regional jails.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That article twenty, chapter thirty-one of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, be amended by adding thereto a new section, designated section five- d, to read as follows:
ARTICLE 20. WEST VIRGINIA REGIONAL JAIL AND CORRECTIONAL FACILITY AUTHORITY.
§31-20-5d. Good time credit.
 (a) All adult inmates now in the custody of the executive director of the West Virginia regional jail and correctional facility authority, or hereafter committed to the custody of the executive director, are to be granted commutation from their sentences for good conduct in accordance with this section and article fifteen, chapter seventeen of this code.
(b) Commutation of sentence or good time is to be deducted from the fixed term of determinate sentences.
(c) Each inmate committed to the custody of the executive director for a term of confinement exceeding six months and incarcerated in a regional jail facility pursuant to this commitment is to be granted five days good time for each month he or she is incarcerated, including any and all days in a county or regional jail awaiting sentence credited by the sentencing court to his or her sentence pursuant to section twenty-four, article eleven, chapter sixty-one of this code or for any other reason relating to his or her commitment. No inmate may be granted any good time for time served either on parole or bond or in any other status in which he or she is not physically incarcerated.
(d) Each inmate committed to the custody of the regional jail authority and incarcerated in a regional jail facility is to be granted ten days of good time for completion of the general equivalency diploma or high school diploma.
(e) The executive director may, with the approval of the governor, allow extra good time for inmates who perform exceptional work or service.
(f) An inmate under two or more consecutive sentences shall be allowed good time as if the several sentences, when the maximum terms thereof are added together, were all one sentence.
(g) The authority shall promulgate separate disciplinary rules for each regional jail facility in which inmates are incarcerated, describing acts which inmates are prohibited from committing, procedures for charging individual inmates for violations of the rules and for determining the guilt or innocence of inmates charged with the violations and the sanctions which may be imposed for the violations. A copy of the rules are to be given to each inmate. For each violation by an inmate, any part or all of the good time which has been granted to the inmate pursuant to this section may be forfeited and revoked by the administrator of the regional jail facility in which the violation occurred. The administrator, when appropriate and with approval of the executive director, may restore any good time forfeited for a violation of the rules of the regional jail facility.
(h) Each inmate, within seventy-two hours of his or her being sentenced and being received into the custody of the executive director, is to be given a statement setting forth the term or length of his or her sentence or sentences and the time of his or her minimum discharge computed according to this section.
(i) Each inmate is to be given a revision of the statement described in subsection (h) if and when any part or all of the good time has been forfeited and revoked or restored pursuant to subsection (g) whereby the time of his or her earliest discharge is changed.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to allow good time credit for obtaining a GED or high school diploma in jail.

§31-20-5d is new; therefore, strike-throughs and underscoring have been omitted.