SB566 H JUD AM 3-2 #1

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

    That §25-1-3 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended and reenacted; and that §62-11A-1a be amended and reenacted, all to read as follows:

ARTICLE 1. ORGANIZATION, INSTITUTIONS AND CORRECTIONS MANAGEMENT.

§25-1-3. Institutions managed by Commissioner of Corrections; certain institutions transferred to Department of Health and Human Resources; establishment of work and study release units; contracting with certain entities for reentry and direct placement services.

    (a) The Commissioner of Corrections shall manage, direct, control and govern the following penal or correctional institutions and any others placed under his or her jurisdiction or control:

    Mount Olive Correctional Complex;

    Huttonsville Correctional Center;

    Anthony Correctional Center;

    Denmar Correctional Center;

    Pruntytown Correctional Center;

    Northern West Virginia Correctional Center;

    St. Marys Correctional Center;

    Lakin Correctional Center;

    Ohio County Correctional Center;

    Beckley Correctional Center; and

    Martinsburg Correctional Center.

    (b) The Commissioner of Corrections is authorized to may contract with the county commission of McDowell County to house and incarcerate inmates at the Stevens Correctional Center consistent with all requirements and standards governing the Division of Corrections.

    (c) Jurisdiction of and title to the West Virginia Children's Home at Elkins are hereby transferred to the Department of Health and Human Resources, which is the custodian of all deeds and other muniments of title to the property and shall record those that are susceptible of recordation to be recorded in the proper offices. Notwithstanding any provision of this code to the contrary, the West Virginia Children's Home shall be managed and controlled by a superintendent appointed by the Commissioner of the Division of Human Services.

    (d) The commissioner is authorized to may establish work and study release units as extensions and subsidiaries of those state institutions under his or her control and authority. The work and study release units may be coeducational and shall be managed, directed and controlled as provided in this article.

    (e) The commissioner may contract with nonprofit or charitable entities, including but not limited to nonprofit community mental health clinics operating half-way houses or transitional housing facilities for the placement of persons in the commissioner’s custody, including those person incarcerated with substance abuse related convictions, whether confined or under parole supervision, as long as such facilities meet standards and criteria established by the commissioner.

    (f) The Division of Corrections is not responsible for the costs associated with housing a person in a half-way house or transitional housing facility in any case in which an individual has been ordered by a circuit court to serve his or her sentence or any part thereof in a half-way house or transitional housing facility pursuant to subdivision (5), subsection (a), section one-a, article eleven-a, chapter sixty-two of this code.

    (g) Nothing in this section prohibits the Division of Corrections from charging any inmate it places within half-way houses or transitional housing pursuant to this section, a reasonable sum calculated to offset all or part of the costs of placement in a half-way house or transitional housing: Provided, That the division finds the inmate has the ability to pay the amount charged.

    (h) The Division of Corrections shall, as part of the report required by section twenty, article one, chapter five of this code, provide the number of persons placed in a half-way house or a transitional housing facility pursuant to subsection (e). In the event, there are no placements pursuant to subsection (e), the Division of Corrections shall provide an explanation and detail future plans to implement the provisions of subsection (e).

    (i) Any person employed by the Office of Public Institutions who on the effective date of this article is a classified civil service employee shall, within the limits contained in section two, article six, chapter twenty-nine of this code, remain in the civil service system as a covered employee.

§62-11A-1a. Other sentencing alternatives.

    (a) Any person who has been convicted in a circuit court or in a magistrate court under any criminal provision of this code of a misdemeanor or felony, which is punishable by imposition of a fine or confinement in the county or regional jail or a state correctional facility, or both fine and confinement, may, in the discretion of the sentencing judge or magistrate, as an alternative to the sentence imposed by statute for the crime, be sentenced under one of the following programs:

    (1) The weekend jail program under which persons would be required to spend weekends or other days normally off from work in jail;

    (2) The work program under which sentenced persons would be required to spend the first two or more days of their sentence in jail and then, in the discretion of the court, would be assigned to a county agency to perform labor within the jail, or in and upon the buildings, grounds, institutions, bridges, roads, including orphaned roads used by the general public and public works within the county. Eight hours of labor are to be credited as one day of the sentence imposed. Persons sentenced under this program may be required to provide their own transportation to and from the work site, lunch and work clothes; or

    (3) The community service program under which persons sentenced would spend no time in jail but would be sentenced to a number of hours or days of community service work with government entities or charitable or nonprofit entities approved by the circuit court. Regarding any portion of the sentence designated as confinement, eight hours of community service work is to be credited as one day of the sentence imposed. Regarding any portion of the sentence designated as a fine, the fine is to be credited at an hourly rate equal to the prevailing federal minimum wage at the time the sentence was imposed. In the discretion of the court, the sentence credits may run concurrently or consecutively. Persons sentenced under this program may be required to provide their own transportation to and from the work site, lunch and work clothes;

    (4) A day-reporting center program if the program has been implemented in the sentencing court’s jurisdiction or in the area where the offender resides. For purposes of this subdivision “day-reporting center” means a court-operated or court-approved facility where persons ordered to serve a sentence in this type of facility are required to report under the terms and conditions set by the court for purposes which include, but are not limited to, counseling, employment training, alcohol or drug testing or other medical testing; or

    (5) A facility authorized by the provisions of section three, article one, chapter twenty-five of this code: Provided, That the Division of Corrections is not responsible for the costs associated with housing a person in a half-way house or transitional housing facility in any case in which an individual has been ordered by a circuit court to serve his or her sentence or any part thereof in a half-way house or transitional housing facility.

    (b) In no event may the duration of the alternate sentence exceed the maximum period of incarceration otherwise allowed.

    (c) In imposing a sentence under the provisions of this section, the court shall first make the following findings of fact and incorporate them into the court's sentencing order:

    (1) The person sentenced was not convicted of an offense for which a mandatory period of confinement is imposed by statute;

    (2) In circuit court cases, that the person sentenced is not a habitual criminal within the meaning of sections eighteen and nineteen, article eleven, chapter sixty-one of this code;

    (3) In circuit court cases, that the offense underlying the sentence is not a felony offense for which violence or the threat of violence to the person is an element of the offense;

    (4) In circuit court cases, that adequate facilities for the administration and supervision of alternative sentencing programs are available through the court's probation officers or the county sheriff or, in magistrate court cases, that adequate facilities for the administration and supervision of alternative sentencing programs are available through the county sheriff; and

    (5) That an alternative sentence under provisions of this article will best serve the interests of justice.

    (d) Persons sentenced by the circuit court under the provisions of this article remain under the administrative custody and supervision of the court's probation officers or the county sheriff. Persons sentenced by a magistrate remain under the administrative custody and supervision of the county sheriff.

    (e) Persons sentenced under the provisions of this section may be required to pay the costs of their incarceration, including meal costs: Provided, That the judge or magistrate considers the person’s ability to pay the costs.

    (f) Persons sentenced under the provisions of this section remain under the jurisdiction of the court. The court may withdraw any alternative sentence at any time by order entered with or without notice and require that the remainder of the sentence be served in the county jail, regional jail or a state correctional facility: Provided, That no alternative sentence directed by the sentencing judge or magistrate or administered under the supervision of the sheriff, his or her deputies, a jailer or a guard, may require the convicted person to perform duties which would be considered detrimental to the convicted person's health as attested by a physician.

    (g) No provision of this section may be construed to limit a circuit judge or magistrate’s ability to impose a period of supervision or participation in a community corrections program created pursuant to article eleven-c, chapter sixty-two of this

code.”