Introduced Version
House Bill 2465 History
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Key: Green = existing Code. Red = new code to be enacted
H. B. 2465
(By Mr. Speaker, Mr. Kiss, and Delegate Trump)
[By Request of the Executive]
[Introduced January 29, 1999; referred to the
Committee on the Judiciary then Finance.]
A BILL to amend article five, chapter twenty-eight of the code of
West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as
amended, by adding thereto a new section, designated
section twenty-eight, relating to the establishment of a
mandatory supervision program for adult felony offenders;
requiring all adult inmates who are released from custody
prior to the completion of the maximum term of their
sentence to either be paroled or placed under mandatory
supervision; establishing credits toward early release for
inmates who are in compliance with correctional
institutions' rules; prohibiting inmates who are sentenced
to serve life from participating in the mandatory
supervision program; establishing eligibility criteria for
the mandatory supervision program; authorizing the
commissioner of corrections to establish disciplinary rules for correctional institutions; authorizing the commissioner
to promulgate rules for a mandatory supervision program;
establishing guidelines for inmates under multiple
consecutive sentences to be eligible for the mandatory
supervision program; requiring statements to be given to
inmates setting forth the term of the inmate's sentence and
the time or length of time until they are eligible for the
mandatory supervision program; requiring that a revised
statement of eligibility for the mandatory supervision
program be given to an inmate when circumstances change;
requiring a one-year supervision period under the mandatory
supervision program; authorizing the board of parole to
release inmates who are eligible for mandatory supervision;
subjecting inmates on mandatory supervision to the same
rules as inmates released on parole; requiring the
commissioner to issue a discharge certificate upon an
inmate's satisfactory completion of the mandatory
supervision program; prohibiting inmates who violate the
terms of their parole or the mandatory supervision program
from further participating in the mandatory supervision
program; authorizing the commissioner, with the approval of
the governor, to adjust an inmate's eligibility date for the
mandatory supervision program when the inmate performs
exceptional work or services.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That article five, chapter twenty-eight of the code of West
Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, be
amended by adding thereto a new section, designated section
twenty-eight, to read as follows:
ARTICLE 5. THE PENITENTIARY.
§28-5-28. Mandatory supervision programs for adult felony
offenders.
(a) There is hereby created a mandatory supervision program
for adult felony offenders in the department of military affairs
and public safety. The commissioner of corrections is authorized
to promulgate rules to implement a mandatory supervision program
consistent with the provisions of this section.
(b) On or after the first day of January, two thousand, all
adult inmates who are sentenced and committed to the custody of
the commissioner of corrections and who are released from custody
prior to the completion of the maximum term of their sentence,
except those committed pursuant to article four, chapter
twenty-five of this code, shall be released to either parole or
the mandatory supervision program: Provided, That the inmate has
an approved home plan. The provisions set forth in section
twenty-seven, article five, chapter twenty-eight shall not apply
to inmates sentenced after the first day of January, two
thousand.
(c) Each inmate committed to the custody of the commissioner
of corrections and incarcerated in a correctional facility
pursuant to such commitment shall be granted one day credit for
each day he or she is incarcerated and is in compliance with the
rules of the institution. The incarceration period shall include
any and all days the inmate is in jail awaiting sentencing and
all days which are credited by the sentencing court to the
inmate's sentence pursuant to section twenty-four, article
eleven, chapter sixty-one of this code. An inmate sentenced to
serve a life sentence shall not be eligible for the mandatory
supervision program.
(d) After one half of the maximum term of an inmate's
sentence or sentences has been served, plus any added time for
misconduct, the inmate will be eligible for the mandatory
supervision program. Any time added to the mandatory supervision
program for misconduct cannot exceed the maximum term of the
inmate's sentence or sentences.
(e) The commissioner of corrections shall promulgate
disciplinary rules for each institution under his or her control
in which adult felons are incarcerated, which rules shall
describe acts which inmates are prohibited from committing,
procedures for charging individual inmates for violation of such
rules and for determining the guilt or innocence of inmates
charged with such violations and the sanctions which may be imposed for such violations. A copy of such rules shall be given
to each inmate. For each violation by an inmate so sanctioned,
the chief executive officer of the institution in which the
violation occurred may extend the eligibility date for the
mandatory supervision program by adding time for the misconduct.
The chief executive officer of the institution, when appropriate
and with approval of the commissioner, may remove any time added
for misconduct.
(f) An inmate under two or more consecutive sentences shall
be eligible for the mandatory supervision program as if the
several sentences, when the maximum terms thereof are added
together, were all one sentence.
(g) Each inmate, upon his or her commitment to and being
received into the custody of the commissioner of the division of
corrections, shall be given a statement setting forth the maximum
term or length of his or her sentence or sentences and the date
when he or she will first become eligible for the mandatory
supervision program as computed according to this section.
(h) Each inmate shall be given a revision of the statement
described in subsection (g) whenever the time of his or her
eligibility for the mandatory supervision program is changed.
(i) Each inmate released on mandatory supervision shall be
under supervision for a minimum of one year. The board of parole
is hereby authorized to release inmates who are eligible for mandatory supervision and the inmates released on mandatory
supervision shall be subject to the same rules as inmates
released on parole and shall be subject to the same
revocation process. Upon satisfactorily completing the mandatory
supervision program and sentencing requirements, the commissioner
shall issue a discharge certificate.
(j) Inmates being returned to custody as a result of
violation of mandatory supervision rules or parole, pursuant to
section nineteen, article twelve, chapter sixty-two of this code,
will no longer be allowed to participate in the mandatory
supervision program, but will be eligible for parole under the
provisions of other applicable laws.
(k) The commissioner of corrections may, with the approval
of the governor, adjust the mandatory supervision eligibility
date for an inmate who performs exceptional work or service.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to require all adult
inmates who are released prior to the completion of the maximum
term for their sentence to be supervised for at least one year
after they are returned to our communities.
This section is new; therefore, strike-throughs and
underscoring have been omitted.