H. B. 4530


(By Delegates Rowe, Hatfield, Spencer,
Houston, Calvert, Staton and Hunt)
[Introduced February 14, 2000; referred to the
Committee on the Judiciary.]



A BILL to repeal section twenty-two, article one, chapter twenty-five of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended; and to amend article eight-b, chapter sixty-one of said code by adding thereto a new section, designated section ten, relating to creating the felony criminal offenses of engaging in sexual intercourse or intrusion by persons employed at adult or juvenile correctional institutions or as supervisory probation or parole officers; and providing criminal penalties.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section twenty-two, article one, chapter twenty-five of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, be repealed; and that article eight-b, chapter sixty-one of said code be amended by adding thereto a new section, designated section ten, to read as follows:
ARTICLE 8B. SEXUAL OFFENSES.

§61-8B-10. Sexual intercourse or sexual intrusion with incarcerated persons; penalties.

(a) Any person: (1) Employed by the division of corrections; (2) working at a correctional facility managed by the commissioner of corrections pursuant to contract or as an employee of a state agency; (3) working at a detention or correctional facility managed by the director of the division of juvenile services pursuant to contract or as an employee of a state agency; (4) employed by a county jail or by the regional jail and correctional facility authority; or (5) working at a facility managed by the regional jail and correctional facility authority or a county jail, who engages in sexual intercourse or sexual intrusion with a person who is incarcerated, or in the custody of the state or a county, is guilty of a felony and, upon conviction thereof, shall be confined in a state correctional facility under the control of the commissioner of corrections for not less than one nor more than five years or fined not more than five thousand dollars.
(b) Any person employed by the division of corrections as a parole officer or by the West Virginia supreme court of appeals as an adult or juvenile probation officer who engages in sexual intercourse or sexual intrusion with a person the parole officer or probation officer is charged as part of his or her employment with supervising, is guilty of a felony and, upon conviction thereof, shall be confined in a state correctional facility under the control of the commissioner of corrections for not less than one nor more than five years or fined not more than five thousand dollars, or both.



NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to provide criminal penalties for parole officers, adult and juvenile probation officers, individuals working in juvenile detention or correctional facilities and employees and contractors of the regional jail and correctional facility authority and county jails who engage in "sexual intercourse" or "sexual intrusion" (as those terms are defined in West Virginia Code §61-8B-1) with an incarcerated person. The bill makes the violation a felony.

This section is new; therefore, strike-throughs and underscoring have been omitted.