H. B. 2464
(By Delegates Mezzatesta and Williams)
[Introduced January 20, 2003; referred to the
Committee on the Judiciary then Finance.]
A BILL to amend and reenact sections two and four, article six,
chapter twenty-five of the code of West Virginia, one thousand
nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, all relating to age
eligibility of offenders for the boot camp program under the
division of corrections.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That sections two and four, article six, chapter twenty-five
of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one,
as amended, be amended and reenacted, all to read as follows:
ARTICLE 6. BOOT CAMP.
§25-6-2. Authorization to establish boot camp program.
(a) The commissioner of the division of corrections is hereby
authorized to establish a program of boot camps that may be used
for eligible offenders at least eighteen years of age but not more
than twenty-eight who are sentenced to serve a term of imprisonment under the custody of the commissioner of corrections and whom the
commissioner or the circuit court may permit to serve his or her
sentence as a sentence to boot camp in accordance with this
article.
(b) The commissioner of the division of corrections is hereby
authorized to establish a program of boot camps that may be used
for eligible offenders at least twelve years of age and under the
age of eighteen years, who are sentenced to serve a term of
imprisonment or detention under the custody of the commissioner of
corrections and whom the commissioner or the circuit court may
permit to serve his or her sentence as a sentence to boot camp in
accordance with this article.
(c) For the program provided in subsection (b) of this
section, the state board of education and state superintendent of
schools, pursuant to section five, article twenty, chapter eighteen
of this code, respectively, shall, as funds are available,
establish an education program for those eligible offenders who are
not recipients of a high school diploma or a general education
diploma.
§25-6-4. Eligibility.
(a) Appropriate inmates may participate in the boot camp
program in accordance with the following criteria:
(1) One who is not less than eighteen years of age nor more
than twenty-eight years of age;
(2) (1) One who is medically, physically and psychologically
fit to participate in the program;
(3) (2) One who volunteers for the program or is sentenced to
the program as a juvenile;
(4) (3) One who has been:
(A) Convicted of a felony and has been sentenced to the
custody of the commissioner of corrections for a period of
incarceration of not less than one year;
(B) Assigned to an alternative education program of the state
board of education; or
(C) Adjudicated delinquent.
(5) (4) One who was not convicted of murder in the first
degree or murder in the second degree;
(6) (5) One who was not convicted of kidnapping;
(7) (6) One who was not convicted of first or second degree
sexual assault;
(8) (7) One who was not convicted of any offense pursuant to
article eight-d, chapter sixty-one of this code;
(9) (8) One who was not convicted of incest;
(10) (9) One who has not been previously convicted of a
felony; and
(11) (10) Such other criteria as the commissioner of the
division of corrections may promulgate pursuant to chapter
twenty-nine-a of this code.
(b) The circuit court of conviction may direct that a person
be admitted or excluded from participation in the state boot camp
program. The commissioner, pursuant to operational policies and
procedures, may in his discretion, direct placement of an inmate in
a boot camp program.
(c) Any placement in the boot camp shall be subject to the
extent funding is available or appropriated and subject to the
availability of space in the boot camp: Provided,
That nothing in
this section shall give gives any court the power to hold the
division of corrections or any officer or employee of the division
in contempt of court for failure to adhere to a circuit court
directive that a person be placed in the state boot camp program if
space or funding is unavailable.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to establish a boot camp
program for juvenile offenders under the division of corrections
and to designate age requirements for juvenile and adult offenders
who participate in the boot camp program.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.