H. B. 2019


(By Delegates Coleman and Stemple)
[Introduced January 13, 1999; referred to the
Committee on the Judiciary.]




A BILL to amend and reenact section eighteen, article twelve, chapter sixty-two of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to probation and parole; and removing credit for good conduct when determining a period of parole.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section eighteen, article twelve, chapter sixty-two of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 12. PROBATION AND PAROLE.
§62-12-18. Period of parole; discharge.

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 prisoner, 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 paroled prisoner has been on parole for a period of one year from the date of his or her release, the board may, when in its judgment the ends of parole have been attained and the best interests of the state and the paroled prisoner will be served thereby, release the parolee from further supervision and discharge him or her from parole: Provided, further however, That no prisoner to serve a life term of imprisonment and released on parole shall may be discharged from supervision and parole in a period less than five years from the date of his or her release on parole.
No prisoner on parole 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, armed robbery, rape, sodomy or incest, shall may be discharged from parole. A paroled prisoner serving a sentence in any penitentiary of another state or the United States may, except in the enumerated crimes, be discharged from parole while so serving his or her sentence in said the penitentiary, or be continued on parole or returned to West Virginia as a parole violator, in the discretion of the parole board.

NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to remove from a period of parole any credit for good conduct.

Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would be added.