H. B. 3223
(By Mr. Speaker, Mr. Kiss, and
Delegates Trump and Michael)
[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 a new section, designated five-d, relating
to monitoring of inmate telephone calls; procedures and
restrictions; calls to or from attorneys excepted.
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 to read as follows:
ARTICLE 12. WEST VIRGINIA REGIONAL JAIL AND CORRECTIONAL FACILITY
AUTHORITY.
§31-20-5d. Monitoring of inmate telephone calls; procedures and
restrictions; calls to or from attorneys excepted.
(a) The executive director of the West Virginia regional jail
and correctional facility authority or his or her designee is authorized to monitor, intercept, record and disclose telephone
calls to or from adult inmates of regional jails in accordance with
the following provisions:
(1) All adult inmates of state regional jails be notified in
writing that their telephone conversations may be monitored,
intercepted, recorded and disclosed;
(2) The executive director and his or her designee shall have
access to recordings of inmates' telephone calls unless disclosed
pursuant to subdivision (4) of this subsection;
(3) Notice shall be prominently placed on or immediately near
every telephone that may be monitored;
(4) The contents of inmates' telephone calls may be disclosed
to the appropriate law-enforcement agency only if the disclosure
is:
(A) Necessary to safeguard the orderly operation of the
regional jails;
(B) Necessary for the investigation of a crime;
(C) Necessary for the prevention of a crime;
(D) Necessary for the prosecution of a crime;
(E) Required by an order of a court of competent jurisdiction;
or
(F) Necessary to protect persons from physical harm or the
threat of physical harm;
(5) All recordings of telephone calls must be destroyed within twelve months unless disclosed pursuant to subdivision (4) of this
subsection; and
(6) To safeguard the sanctity of the attorney-client
privilege, a telephone line that is not monitored shall be made
available for telephone calls to or from an attorney.
Such calls shall not be monitored, intercepted, recorded or
disclosed in any matter.
(b) The executive director shall propose legislative rules in
accordance with the provisions of article three, chapter
twenty-nine-a of this code to effectuate the provisions of this
section.
(c) The provisions of this section shall apply only to those
persons serving a sentence of incarceration in the custody of the
executive director of the West Virginia regional jail and
correctional facility authority.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to protect inmates and
personnel from harm and the threat of harm.
This section is new; therefore, strike-throughs and
underscoring have been omitted.
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