SB342 HFIN AM 3-7                                          McO

    The Committee on Finance moves to amend the bill on page three, following the enacting clause, by striking out the remainder of the bill and inserting in lieu thereof the following:

    “That §25-1-1a of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended and reenacted; that said code be amended by adding thereto a new section, designated §25-1-23; that §62-12-18 of said code be amended and reenacted; and that said code be amended by adding thereto a new section, designated §62-12-29, all to read as follows:

CHAPTER 25. DIVISION OF CORRECTIONS.

ARTICLE 1. ORGANIZATION, INSTITUTIONS AND CORRECTIONS MANAGEMENT.

§25-1-1a. Purpose and legislative intent.

    (a) The primary purpose of the Division of Corrections is to enhance public safety and hold offenders accountable while reducing recidivism or otherwise maintaining low recidivism rates and incidences of criminal behavior and improving outcomes for offenders under its supervision by providing for the incarceration and care of convicted offenders who have been sentenced by circuit courts of proper jurisdiction to serve terms of incarceration. It is the intent of the Legislature:

    (1) That persons committed to correctional institutions of the state for whom release is available for crimes be afforded appropriate treatment to reestablish their ability to live peaceably, consistent with the protection of the community;

    (2) That persons committed to correctional institutions of the state be released at the earliest possible date, consistent with public safety;

    (3) To establish a just, humane and efficient corrections program; and

    (4) To avoid duplication and waste of effort and money on the part of public and private agencies; and,

    (5) That the division shall create and implement policies and programs to achieve these objectives.

    (b) This section shall be construed in favor of public safety.

§25-1-23. Intensive secured substance abuse recovery program.

    (a) The Division of Corrections shall develop an intensive secured substance abuse recovery program, within any of its facilities or by contract, to house and care for persons in the custody of the commissioner suffering from substance abuse who have not been convicted of a felony crime of violence against the person or a felony offense where the victim was a minor. For purposes of this section a “felony crime of violence against the person” means those felony offenses set forth in articles two, three-e, eight-b, eight-d, chapter sixty-one of this code, and “felony offenses where the victim was a minor” means those felony offenses set forth in articles eight, eight-a, eight-c and eight d, where the victim was under eighteen years of age.

    (b) The commissioner shall develop policy establishing criteria for persons to be received into this program.  

    (c) The division shall notify the court that sentenced a person who meets the criteria established by the program of the person’s eligibility. If the court concurs with the determination of eligibility, then the division may place the person into the program for a period of not more than three hundred sixty-five days.

    (d) If the person successfully completes the program, the division shall notify the sentencing court. Upon receipt of the notice, and not withstanding any provision of Rule 35(b), West Virginia Rules of Criminal Procedure, the court may suspend the person’s sentence and place the offender upon probation or such other community based sentencing alternatives as are available.

    (e) If a correctional hearing officer finds through an administrative hearing that the offender has refused or failed to participate in the program or otherwise acted in a disruptive manner or engaged in disruptive conduct or committed acts adversely impacting the security or orderly operation of the program, the division may remove the person removed from the program. Upon removal from the program, the person will continue to serve his or her sentence with credit for all time spent in the program.

    (f) The program shall be capable of concurrently housing no fewer than two hundred persons in one or more facilities as determined by the commissioner. The division has regulatory authority, when the program is at or near capacity, to prioritize admissions to the program.

    (g) The program’s recovery component shall be designed to serve the person’s substance abuse condition, and to provide the person with the skills and training needed to prevent the person from engaging in substance abuse upon release from the program. The program shall also coordinate with local community substance abuse providers to assist in the transition to the community upon release from the program, including the provision of transitional housing and treatment.

CHAPTER 62. CRIMINAL PROCEDURE.

ARTICLE 12. PROBATION AND PAROLE.

§62-12-18. Period of parole; Division of Corrections directed mandatory reentry supervision; discharge.

    (a) The period of parole shall be the maximum of any sentence, less deductions for good conduct and work as provided by law, for which the paroled inmate, at the time of release, was subject to imprisonment under his or her definite or indeterminate sentence, as the case may be: Provided, That any time after a parolee has been on parole for a period of one year from the date of his or her release, a panel of the board may, when in its judgment the ends of parole have been attained and the best interests of the state and the parolee will be served thereby, release the parolee from further supervision and discharge him or her from parole: Provided, however, That no inmate sentenced to serve a life term of imprisonment and released on parole shall be discharged from supervision and parole in a period less than five years from the date of his or her release on parole.

    (b) No parolee who has violated the terms of his or her release on parole by confession to, or being convicted of, in any state of the United States, the District of Columbia or the territorial possessions of the United States, the crime of treason, murder, aggravated robbery, first degree sexual assault, second degree sexual assault, a sexual offense against a minor, incest or offenses with the same essential elements if known by other terms in other jurisdictions shall be discharged from parole. A parolee serving a sentence in any correctional facility of another state or the United States may, unless incarcerated for one of the above enumerated crimes, be discharged from parole while so serving his or her sentence in said correctional facility or be continued on parole or returned to West Virginia as a parole violator, in the discretion of the parole board.

    (c) The Division of Corrections shall order “Division of Corrections directed mandatory reentry supervision” and the terms of supervision, which may include electronic monitoring, for an inmate who has not been granted discretionary parole six months prior to the inmate’s minimum expiration of sentence upon receiving a plan of supervision from the Commissioner of Corrections.

    (1) An inmate granted Division of Corrections directed mandatory reentry supervision pursuant to this section may be returned by the board to a correctional facility for violation of the conditions of supervision and may not again be eligible for Division of Corrections directed mandatory reentry supervision during the same period of incarceration.

    (2) An inmate released to Division of Corrections directed mandatory reentry supervision shall be considered to be released on parole.

    (3) Division of Corrections directed mandatory reentry supervision is not a commutation of sentence or any other form of clemency.

    (4) Subject to subdivision (1) of this subsection, the period of Division of Corrections mandatory reentry supervision shall conclude upon completion of the individual’s minimum expiration of sentence.

    (d) The commissioner shall develop policies for effective implementation of subsection (c) of this section.

§62-12-29. Graduated sanctions for parole violations – administrative rules.

    (a) The Division of Corrections may adopt a policy to develop a system of graduated sanctions for responding to violations of parole that otherwise do not involve the commission of new crimes.

    (b) The policies shall create a system of graduated sanctions with the following objectives:

    (1) Responding quickly and consistently to violations of parole, based on the nature of the violation and the risk level of the supervised individual;

    (2) Reducing the time and resources expended by the parole officers to respond to violations; and

    (3) Reducing the commission of new crimes and revocation rates.”.

Adopted

Rejected