COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE
FOR
Senate Bill No. 253
(By Senator Kessler)
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[Originating in the Committee on the Judiciary;
reported March 3, 2009.]
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A BILL to amend the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, by
adding thereto a new section, designated §61-8B-10a; and to
amend and reenact §62-8-1 and §62-8-2 of said code, all
relating to offenses by inmates and against inmates generally;
creating offenses of sexual assault or sexual intrusion by or
against an inmate; creating the offense of sexual intercourse
or sexual intrusion by a visitor to a correctional or penal
facility with an inmate; and establishing penalties.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended
by adding thereto a new section, designated §61-8B-10a; and that
§62-8-1 and §62-8-2 of said code be amended and reenacted, all to
read as follows:
CHAPTER 61. CRIMES AND THEIR PUNISHMENTS.
ARTICLE 8B. SEXUAL OFFENSES.
§61-8B-10a. Prohibition against sexual acts with inmates at
correctional facilities; penalty.
Any person present on the grounds of a correctional facility
managed by the Commission of Corrections or the Division of
Juvenile Services or on the grounds of a regional jail managed by
the Regional Jail and Correctional Facility Authority who engages
in sexual intercourse, sexual intrusion or sexual contact, as such
terms are defined in section one of this article, with a person in
custody therein is guilty of a felony and, upon conviction, shall
be confined in a state correctional facility for an indeterminate
sentence of not less than one year nor more than five years.
CHAPTER 62. CRIMINAL PROCEDURE.
ARTICLE 8. CRIMES BY AND PROCEEDINGS AGAINST INMATES.
§62-8-1. Offenses by inmates; conspiracy; sexual offenses by
inmates against inmates.
(a) A person imprisoned or otherwise in the custody of the
Commissioner of Corrections or the Executive Director of the
Regional Jail and Correctional Facility Authority is guilty of a
felony if he or she kills, wounds or inflicts other bodily injury
upon any person at any correctional facility; or breaks, cuts or
injures or sets fire to any building, fixture or fastening of any
correctional facility or jail, or any part thereof, for the purpose of escaping or aiding any other inmate to escape therefrom or
renders any correctional facility or jail less secure as a place of
confinement; or makes, procures, secretes or has in his or her
possession any instrument, tool or other thing for such purpose or
with intent to kill, wound or inflict bodily injury; or resists the
lawful authority of an officer or guard of any correctional
facility or jail for such purpose or with such intent. Any three
or more inmates so confined, or in such custody, who conspire
together to commit any offense mentioned in this section are each
guilty of a felony.
(b) Notwithstanding any provision of this code to the
contrary, any person imprisoned or otherwise in the custody of the
Commissioner of Corrections or the Executive Director of the
Regional Jail and Correctional Facility Authority is guilty of a
felony if such person engages in sexual intercourse or sexual
intrusion, as defined by section one, article eight-b, chapter
sixty-one of this code, with another person imprisoned or otherwise
in the custody of the Commissioner of Corrections or the Executive
Director of the Regional Jail and Correctional Facility Authority
and in so doing:
(1) Inflicts serious bodily injury upon anyone; or
(2) Employs a deadly weapon in the commission of the act; or
(3) Exerts forcible compulsion over another person; or
(4) Commits such act with another person who is physically helpless.
§62-8-2. Punishment of convicts; no discharge from correctional
institution while prosecution is pending.
(a) Any inmate who violates the provisions of subsection (a),
section one of this article and the violation results in the death
of any person is guilty of a felony and, upon conviction thereof,
shall be confined in a state correctional facility for life and he
or she shall not be eligible for parole, notwithstanding the
provisions of article twelve of this chapter.
(b) Any inmate who violates the provisions of subsection (a),
section one of this article and is serving a term of confinement
for life is guilty of a felony and, upon conviction thereof, he or
she may not be eligible for parole, notwithstanding the provisions
of article twelve of this chapter.
(c) Any inmate who is not serving a term of confinement for
life and who violates the provisions of subsection (a), section one
of this article and whose violation did not result in the death of
any person is guilty of a felony and, upon conviction thereof,
shall be confined in a state correctional facility not less than
one year nor more than five years. Any term of confinement imposed
pursuant to this subsection is to be consecutive to any term of
confinement already imposed.
(d) Any inmate who violates the provisions of subsection (b),
section one of this article is guilty of a felony and, upon conviction thereof, shall be confined in a state correctional
facility for an indeterminate sentence of not less than fifteen
years nor more than thirty-five years.
(d) (e) An inmate prosecuted for an offense under this article
may not be discharged from a state correctional facility while the
prosecution is pending.
(e) (f) Any person convicted pursuant to the provisions of
this section may not be sentenced under section eighteen or
nineteen, article eleven, chapter sixty-one of this code:
Provided, That if an inmate commits an offense punishable by
confinement in a state correctional facility, other than the
offenses defined in subsection (a), section one of this article, he
or she shall be punished as if he or she had been discharged before
committing the offense.
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(NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to
create offenses for
sexual assault and sexual intrusion by or against an inmate, to
create an offense for sexual intercourse and sexual intrusion by a
visitor to a correctional or penal facility with an inmate, and to
establish penalties for such offenses.
§61-8B-10b is new; therefor strike-throughs and underlining
have been omitted.)