SB371 HFIN AMT 4-9 

    S. B. 371 –- “A Bill to amend and reenact §25-1-15 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended; to amend and reenact §28-5-27 of said code; to amend said code by adding thereto two new sections, designated §31-20-5g and §31-20-5h; to amend and reenact §61-7-6 of said code; to amend and reenact §62-11A-1a of said code; to amend and reenact §62-11B-9 of said code; to amend and reenact §62-11C-2, §62-11C-3 and §62-11C-6 of said code; to amend said code by adding thereto a new section, designated §62-11C-10; to amend and reenact §62-12-6, §62-12-7, §62-12-9, §62-12-10, §62-12-13, §62-12-14a, §62-12-15, §62-12-17 and §62-12-19 of said code; to amend said code by adding thereto a new section, designated §62-12-29; to amend and reenact §62-15-2 and §62-15-4 of said code; and to amend said code by adding thereto two new sections, designated §62-15-6a and §62-15-6b, all relating to public safety; requiring the Division of Corrections to perform graduated methods of mental health screens, appraisals and evaluations on persons committed to its custody; eliminating requirement for separate disciplinary rules at each institution; mandating one year of supervised release for violent inmates and deducting one year of their good time; authorizing judges to require up to one hundred eighty days of a nonviolent offender’s sentence to be served as post-release mandatory supervision; setting an effective date for supervised release provisions; requiring the Commissioner of Corrections to adopt policies regarding mandatory supervised release; requiring the West Virginia Regional Jail and Correctional Facility Authority to use a standardized pretrial risk-screening instrument adopted by the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia to screen persons arrested and placed in a regional jail; providing for the confidentiality of risk assessments and their inadmissability at criminal and civil trials; requiring the Division of Corrections to develop and implement a cognitive behavioral program for inmates in regional jails committed to the custody of the Commissioner of Corrections and requiring the Division of Corrections to pay its cost; exempting parole officers from prohibitions against carrying concealed weapons; moving definition of “day report center” to section relating to conditions of release on probation; providing standards and limitations under which judges and magistrates may impose a period of supervision or participation in day report program; clarifying language regarding confinement and revocation for violations of the conditions of home incarceration; adding representative of the Bureau for Behavioral Health and Health Facilities to the community corrections subcommittee of the Governor’s Committee on Crime, Delinquency and Correction; requiring that the community corrections subcommittee review, assess and report on the implementation of evidence-based practices in the criminal justice system; adding member with a background in substance abuse treatment and services to the community criminal justice boards to be appointed by the Commission or Commissions of the county or counties represented by the board; providing oversight responsibility to Division of Justice and Community Services to implement standardized risk and needs assessment, evaluate effectiveness of other modifications to community corrections programs and provide annual report; requiring probation officers to conduct a standardized risk and needs assessment for individuals placed on probation and to supervise probationer and enforce probation according to assessment and supervision standards adopted by the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals; requiring probation officers to perform random drug and alcohol tests of persons under their supervision; authorizing the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia to adopt a standardized risk and needs assessment for use by probation officers; authorizing the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia to adopt a standardized pretrial screening instrument for use by the Regional Jail Authority; providing standards and limitations under which judges may impose a term of reporting to a day report center as a condition of probation; authorizing day report center programs to provide services based on the results of a person’s standardized risk and needs assessment; providing for graduated sanctions in response to violations of the conditions of release on probation other than absconding, committing certain new criminal conduct or violating special condition of probation; creating exceptions to new criminal conduct provisions; making standardized risk and needs assessments confidential court documents; requiring copies of graduated sanctions confinement orders be supplied to the Commissioner of Corrections; providing that graduated sanctions confinement be paid by the Division of Corrections; providing that judges may depart from graduated sanctions limitations upon specific written findings; revising eligibility requirements for accelerated parole program; providing that parole applications may be considered by the parole board without prior submission a home plan; requiring that Division of Corrections’ policies and procedures for developing a rehabilitation treatment plan include the use of substance abuse assessment tools and prioritize treatment resources based on the risk and needs assessment and substance abuse assessment results; providing for rebuttable presumption that parole is appropriate for inmates completing the accelerated parole program and a rehabilitation treatment program; providing standards and limitations for Parole Board; outlining duties of the Division of Corrections to supervise, treat and provide support services for persons released on mandatory supervised release; removing temporal standard for requirement that the Parole Board have access to a copy of an inmate’s physical, mental or psychiatric examination; clarifying the Parole Board’s duty to notify prosecuting attorneys of an offender’s release on parole; authorizing Division of Corrections to employ directors of housing and employment for released inmates with duties relating to the reduction of parole release delays and finding employment; requiring parole officers to update the standardized risk and needs assessment for each person for whom an assessment has not been conducted for parole and to supervise each person according to the assessment and the commissioner’s supervision standards; authorizing the Commissioner of Corrections to issue a certificate authorizing an eligible parole officer to carry firearms or concealed weapons; providing standards and limitations under which the Division of Corrections may order substance abuse treatment or impose a term of reporting to a day report center or other community corrections program as a condition or modification of parole; authorizing the Commissioner of Corrections to enter into a master agreement with the Division of Justice and Community Services to reimburse counties for use of the community corrections programs; clarifying that parolee participation in community corrections is at program director’s discretion; providing for graduated sanctions in response to violations of the conditions of release on parole other than absconding, certain new criminal conduct or violating a special condition of parole; providing a parolee with the right to a hearing, upon request, regarding whether he or she violated the conditions of his or her release on parole; providing the authority for the Board of Parole to depart from graduated sanction; providing that graduated sanctions incarceration for parolees be paid for by Division of Corrections; providing for a Community Supervision Committee to be appointed by the Administrative Director of the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia to coordinate the sharing of information for community supervision and requiring an annual report; revising definitions for Drug Offender Accountability and Treatment Act; requiring all judicial circuits to participate in a drug court or regional drug court program by July 1, 2016; providing standards and limitations under which judges may order treatment supervision for drug offenders; providing that a judge may order a period of confinement to encourage compliance with treatment supervision to be paid b the division of Correction for up to thirty days for each instance; requiring the Division of Justice and Community Services to use appropriated funds to implement substance abuse treatment to serve those under treatment supervision in each judicial circuit; providing that the Division of Justice and Community Services in consultation with the Governor’s Advisory Committee on Substance Abuse is responsible for developing standards relating to quality and delivery of substance abuse services; requiring certain education and training; paying for drug abuse assessments and certified drug treatment from appropriated funds; requiring submittal of an annual report and specifying an effective date; outlining duties of treatment supervision service providers; providing effective dates for provisions related to treatment supervision; providing for state payment of drug court participants’ incarceration under certain circumstances; defining terms; and making technical changes.”