SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 5
(By Senators Love and Hunter)
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[Introduced January 22, 2003; referred to the Committee on the
Judiciary.]
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Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the State of West
Virginia, amending section five, article III thereof, relating
to allowing division of corrections to send convicted inmates
out-of-state to serve their sentences; numbering and
designating such proposed amendment; and providing a
summarized statement of the purpose of such proposed
amendment.
Resolved by the Legislature of West Virginia, two thirds of
the members elected to each house agreeing thereto:
That the question of ratification or rejection of an amendment
to the Constitution of the State of West Virginia be submitted to
the voters of the state at the next general election to be held in
the year two thousand four, which proposed amendment is that
section five, article III thereof be amended, to read as follows:
ARTICLE III. BILL OF RIGHTS.
§5. Excessive bail not required.
Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishment inflicted. Penalties
shall be proportioned to the character and degree of the offence.
No person shall be transported out of, or forced to leave the state
for any offence committed within the same; nor shall any person, in
any criminal case, be compelled to be a witness against himself or
herself, or be twice put in jeopardy of life or liberty for the
same offence: Provided, That, if the West Virginia division of
corrections does not have enough space available for the number of
persons sentenced to a correctional facility in this state, a
prisoner may be sentenced to and transported to a correctional
facility in another state without violating the provisions of this
article if the out-of-state correctional facility is certified as
meeting the correctional facility standards of this state.
Resolved further, That in accordance with the provisions of
article eleven, chapter three of the code of West Virginia, one
thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, the proposed
amendment is hereby numbered "Amendment No. 1" and designated the
"Out-of-state Correctional Facility Sentencing Amendment" and the
purpose of the proposed amendment is summarized as follows: "The
purpose of this amendment is to permit the sentencing and
transportation of convicted prisoners to correctional facilities
out-of-state."
NOTE: The purpose of this Joint Resolution is to amend the Constitution to permit sentencing and transportation of a convicted
prisoner to a correctional facility in another state if there is no
space available to the Division of Corrections.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present Constitution, and underscoring indicates new language
that would be added.