Senate Bill No. 255
(By Senators Green, White, Palumbo and Kessler)
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[Introduced February 16, 2009; referred to the Committee on
Finance.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact §25-1-3a and §25-1-3b of the Code of
West Virginia, 1931, as amended, all relating to trustee
accounts; funds, earnings and personal property of inmates;
and inmate benefit funds.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §25-1-3a and §25-1-3b of the Code of West Virginia, 1931,
as amended, be amended and reenacted, all to read as follows:
ARTICLE 1. ORGANIZATION AND INSTITUTIONS AND CORRECTIONS
MANAGEMENT.
§25-1-3a. Trustee accounts and funds, earnings and personal
property of inmates.
(a) The Commissioner of Corrections is authorized to establish
at each institution under his or her jurisdiction a "Trustee Fund".
The warden or administrator of each institution shall receive and
take charge of the money and personal property, as defined by policy, of all inmates in his or her institution and all money or
personal property, as defined by policy, sent to the inmates or
earned by the inmates as compensation for work performed while they
are domiciled there. The warden or administrator shall credit the
money and earnings to the inmate entitled to it and shall keep an
accurate account of all the money and personal property so received,
which account is subject to examination by the Commissioner of
Corrections. The warden or administrator shall deposit the moneys
in one or more responsible banks in accounts to be designated a
"Trustee Fund".
(b) For all inmates, except those serving life without mercy
and those the warden determines are likely to serve the remainder
of their natural lives in the custody of the Division of Corrections
due to their age and the length of their sentences, the warden or
administrator shall keep in an account at least ten percent of all
money earned during the inmate's incarceration and pay the money to
the inmate at the time of the inmate's release. The warden may
authorize the inmate to withdraw money from his or her mandatory
savings for the purpose of preparing the inmate for reentry into
society.
(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 toward
the cost of his or her incarceration.
(d)(1) Prior to ordering an incarcerated offender to make
reimbursement toward 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 $500 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 warden or administrator shall deliver to the inmate at
the time he or she leaves the institution, or as soon as practicable
after departure, all personal property, moneys and earnings then
credited to the inmate, or in case of the death of the inmate before
authorized release from the institution, the warden or administrator
shall deliver the property to the inmate's personal representative.
In case a conservator is appointed for the inmate while he or she
is domiciled at the institution, the warden or administrator shall
deliver to the conservator, upon proper demand, all moneys and
personal property belonging to the inmate that are in the custody
of the warden or administrator.
(g) After remittance of the sum of money provided in subsection
(f), the commissioner shall place any interest or other sum of money
which is less than $10 which would have become credited to the
inmate's account, such as a monthly interest payment, into the
inmate benefit fund.
§25-1-3b. Inmate benefit funds.
(a) The Commissioner of Corrections shall establish an inmate
benefit fund for each of the institutions under his or her
jurisdiction. The inmate benefit fund is a fund held by the
institutions for the benefit and welfare of inmates incarcerated in state correctional facilities and for the benefit of victims.
(b) There is continued a special revenue account in the State
Treasury for each inmate benefit fund established by the
commissioner. Moneys received by an institution for deposit in an
inmate benefit fund shall be deposited with the State Treasurer to
be credited to the special revenue account created for the
institution's inmate benefit fund. Moneys in a special revenue
account established for an inmate benefit fund may be expended by
the institution for the purposes set forth in this section. Moneys
to be deposited into an inmate benefit fund consist of:
(1) All profit from the exchange or commissary operation and
if the commissary is operated by a vendor, whether a public or
private entity, the profit is the negotiated commission paid to the
Division of Corrections by the vendor;
(2) All net proceeds from vending machines used for inmate
visitation;
(3) All proceeds from contracted inmate telephone commissions;
(4) Any funds that may be assigned by inmates or donated to the
institution by the general public or an inmate service organization
on behalf of all inmates;
(5) Any funds confiscated considered contraband; and
(6) Any unexpended balances in individual inmate trustee funds
if designated by the inmate upon his or her discharge from the
institution.
(c) The inmate benefit fund may only be used for the following
purposes at correctional facilities:
(1) Open-house visitation functions or other nonroutine inmate
functions;
(2) Holiday functions which may include decorations and gifts
for children of inmates;
(3) Cable television service;
(4) Rental of video cassettes;
(5) Payment of video license;
(6) Recreational supplies, equipment or area surfacing;
(7) Reimbursement of employee wages for overtime incurred
during open-house visitations and holiday functions;
(8) Postsecondary education classes;
(9) Reimbursement of a pro rata share of inmate work
compensation;
(10) Household equipment and supplies in day rooms or units as
approved by chief executive officers of institutions, excluding
supplies used in the daily maintenance and sanitation of the unit;
(11) Christmas or other holidays gift certificates for each
inmate to be used at the exchange or commissary;
(12) Any expense associated with the operation of the fund;
(13) Expenditures necessary to properly operate an automated
inmate family and victim information notification system;
(14) Any expense for improvement of the facility which will benefit the inmate population that is not otherwise funded;
and
(15) Any expense related to the installation, operation and
maintenance of the inmate telephone system;
and
(16) For restitution of any negative balance on an inmate's
trustee account for inmate medical copay, legal and ancillary
related postage, and legal copies that are due the State of West
Virginia and which may become uncollectible from an inmate after one
calendar year from an inmate's release on parole or discharge date.
(d) The institution shall compile a monthly report that
specifically documents inmate benefit fund receipts and expenditures
and a yearly report for the previous fiscal year by September 1 of
each year and submit the reports to the commissioner.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to allow the Commissioner of
Corrections to place any interest or other sum of money (less than
$10) which would have been credited to an inmate's account into the
inmate benefit fund. The bill would also allow the inmate benefit
fund to be used for restitution of any negative balance on an
inmate's trustee account.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.
This bill was recommended for introduction and passage during
the 2009 Regular Session of the Legislature by the Legislative
Oversight Committee on Regional Jail and Correctional Facility
Authority.
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