WEST VIRGINIA LEGISLATURE
2022 REGULAR SESSION
Introduced
Senate Bill 621
By Senators Baldwin, Beach, Caputo, Geffert, Jeffries, Lindsay, Plymale, Romano, Stollings, and Woelfel
[Introduced February 11,
2022; referred
to the Committee on Finance]
A BILL amend and reenact §15A-3-16 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, relating generally to the funds for operations of jails; establishing a pro rata allotment of jail capacity by county; and creating an incentive-based model for counties which confine less than or equal to the amount of individuals.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
ARTICLE 3. Division of Corrections and rehabilitation.
§15A-3-16. Funds for operations of jails under the jurisdiction of the commissioner.
(a) Any special revenue funds previously administered by the Regional Jail and Correctional Facility Authority, or its executive director are continued, and shall be administered by the commissioner.
(b) Funds that have been
transferred by §15A-3-16(a) of this code shall be limited in use to operations
of jail functions, and for payment to the Regional Jail and Correctional
Facility Authority Board, for payment of indebtedness. In no case shall may
a fund be utilized to offset or pay operations of nonjail parts of the
facility: Provided, That funds may be utilized on a pro rata basis for
shared staff and for operational expenses of facilities being used as both
prisons and jails.
(c) Whenever the commissioner determines that the balance in these funds is more than the immediate requirements of this article, he or she may request that the excess be invested until needed. Any excess funds so requested shall be invested in a manner consistent with the investment of temporary state funds. Interest earned on any moneys invested pursuant to this section shall be credited to these funds.
(d) These funds consist of the following:
(1) Moneys collected and deposited in the State Treasury which are specifically designated by Acts of the Legislature for inclusion in these funds;
(2) Contributions, grants, and gifts from any source, both public and private, specifically directed to the operations of jails under the control of the commissioner;
(3) All sums paid pursuant to §15A-3-16(g) of this code; and
(4) All interest earned on investments made by the state from moneys deposited in these funds.
(e) The amounts deposited in these funds shall be accounted for and expended in the following manner:
(1) Amounts deposited shall be pledged first to the debt service on any bonded indebtedness;
(2) After any requirements of debt service have been satisfied, the commissioner shall requisition from these funds the amounts that are necessary to provide for payment of the administrative expenses of this article, as limited by this section;
(3) The commissioner shall requisition from these funds, after any requirements of debt service have been satisfied, the amounts that are necessary for the maintenance and operation of jails under his or her control. These funds shall make an accounting of all amounts received from each county by virtue of any filing fees, court costs, or fines required by law to be deposited in these funds and amounts from the jail improvement funds of the various counties;
(4) Notwithstanding any other provisions of this article, sums paid into these funds by each county pursuant to §15A-3-16(g) of this code for each inmate shall be placed in a separate account and shall be requisitioned from these funds to pay for costs incurred; and
(5) Any amounts deposited in these funds from other sources permitted by this article shall be expended based on particular needs to be determined by the commissioner.
(f)(1) After a jail
facility becomes available pursuant to this article for the incarceration
confinement of inmates, each county within the region shall confine all
persons whom the county would have confined in any jail prior to the
availability of the jail facility in the jail facility, except those whose incarceration
confinement in a local jail facility used as a local holding facility is
specified as appropriate under the previously promulgated, and hereby
transferred standards and procedures developed by the Jail Facilities Standards
Commission, and whom the sheriff or the circuit court elects to incarcerate
confine therein.
(2) Notwithstanding the provisions of §15A-3-16(f)(1) of this code, circuit and magistrate courts are authorized to:
(A) Detain persons who have been arrested or charged with a crime in a county or municipal jail specified as appropriate under the standards and procedures referenced in §15A-3-16(f)(1) of this code, for a period not to exceed 96 hours; or
(B) Commit persons convicted of a crime in a county or municipal jail, specified as appropriate under the standards and procedures referenced in §15A-3-16(f)(1) of this code, for a period not to exceed 14 days.
(g) (1) When inmates
are placed in a jail facility under the jurisdiction of the commissioner
pursuant to §15A-3-16(f) of this code, the county, and municipality if the incarceration
confinement is a municipal violation, shall pay into this fund a cost
per day for each incarcerated confined inmate, to be determined
by the state Budget Office annually by examining the most recent three fiscal
years of costs submitted by the commissioner for the cost of operating the jail
facilities and units under his or her jurisdiction, and taking an average per
day, per inmate cost of maintaining the operations of the jail facilities or
units: Provided, That beginning July 1, 2018, and continuing through
July 1, 2022, in no case shall any county or municipality be required to pay a
rate that exceeds $48.25 per day, per inmate. Nothing in this section shall
may be construed to mean that the per diem cannot be decreased or be
less than $48.25 per day per inmate: Provided, however, That
beginning July 1, 2022, and continuing in 30 day increments thereafter, any
county which confines equal to or less than their pro rata allotment of
inmates, as provided in the table below, during the 30-day period inclusive of
the first and last day shall pay $5 less per day, per inmate than otherwise
provided:
County Bed Allotment (2500) 30 Day Allotment Total
Barbour 22 660
Berkeley 171 5,130
Boone 31 930
Braxton 18 540
Brooke 32 960
Cabell 132 3,960
Calhoun 9 270
Clay 12 360
Doddridge 11 330
Fayette 57 1,710
Gilmer 11 330
Grant 16 480
Greenbrier 46 1,380
Hampshire 33 990
Hancock 41 1,230
Hardy 20 600
Harrison 92 2,760
Jackson 39 1,170
Jefferson 81 2,430
Kanawha 252 7,560
Lewis 24 720
Lincoln 29 870
Logan 46 1,380
Marion 79 2,370
Marshall 43 1,290
Mason 36 1,080
McDowell 27 810
Mercer 84 2,520
Mineral 38 1,140
Mingo 33 990
Monongalia 148 4,440
Monroe 18 540
Morgan 24 720
Nicholas 35 1,050
Ohio 60 1,800
Pendleton 9 270
Pleasants 11 330
Pocahontas 11 330
Preston 48 1,140
Putnam 81 2,430
Raleigh 104 3,120
Randolph 39 1,170
Ritchie 12 360
Roane 20 600
Summers 17 510
Taylor 24 720
Tucker 10 300
Tyler 12 360
Upshur 34 1,020
Wayne 55 1,650
Webster 12 360
Wetzel 21 630
Wirt 8 240
Wood 118 3,540
Wyoming 30 900;
(h) The per diem costs for
incarcerating inmates may not include the cost of construction, acquisition, or
renovation of the regional jail facilities: Provided, That each jail
facility or unit operating in this state shall keep a record of the date and
time that an inmate is incarcerated confined, and a county may
not be charged for a second day of incarceration confinement for
an individual inmate until that inmate has remained confined for more than 24
hours. After that, in cases of continuous incarceration confinement,
subsequent per diem charges shall be made upon a county only as subsequent
intervals of 24 hours pass from the original time of incarceration confinement.
(i) The county is
responsible for costs incurred by the division for housing and maintaining
inmates in its facilities who are pretrial inmates and convicted misdemeanants.
The costs of housing shall be borne by the division on a felony conviction on
which an inmate is incarcerated confined beginning the calendar
day following the day of sentencing: Provided, That beginning July 1,
2019, the costs of housing shall be borne by the division on a felony
conviction when an inmate is incarcerated confined beginning the
calendar day following the day of conviction. In no case shall may
the county be responsible for any costs of housing and maintaining felony
convicted inmate populations.
(j) The county is
responsible for the costs incurred by the authority for housing and maintaining
an inmate who, prior to a felony conviction on which the inmate is incarcerated
confined and is awaiting transportation to a state correctional facility
for a 60-day evaluation period as provided in §62-12-7a of this code.
(k) On or before July 1, 2020, the commissioner shall prepare a report on the feasibility of phasing out the county and municipal per diem charges required by §15A-3-16(g) of this code. This report shall include information regarding savings realized because of the consolidation of the former Division of Corrections, Division of Juvenile Services, and the operations of the Regional Jail and Correctional Facility Authority, as well as any other recommendations that might ease the burden of paying the per diem inmate costs by the counties or municipalities. On or before January 1, 2019, January 1, 2020, and January 1, 2021, the commissioner shall report to the Joint Committee on Government and Finance and the co-chairmen of the Joint Standing Committee on Finance the actual per diem rate as calculated pursuant to §15A-3-16(g) of this code and any amount not assessed to counties if the actual per diem cost is larger than the amount charged to the counties or municipalities pursuant to §15A-3-16(g) between July 1, 2018, and July 1, 2021.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to establish a pro rata allotment of the regional jail capacity by county and create an incentive based model for a lower per diem rate for counties which comport to their allotment.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from a heading, or the present, law and underscoring indicates new language that would be added.