Senate Bill No. 171
(By Senators Wooton, Ball, Dittmar, Fanning, Hunter, Kessler,
Minard, Redd, Ross, Schoonover, Snyder and McKenzie )
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[Originating in the Committee on the Judiciary;
reported January 20, 1999.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact section seventeen, article one,
chapter twenty-five of the code of West Virginia, one
thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended; and to further
amend said article by adding thereto a new section,
designated section eighteen, all relating to monitoring
inmate communications; authorizing the division of
corrections to monitor telephone calls and mail of inmates
in state correctional institutions; setting forth requisite
conditions to justify monitoring; requiring that outgoing
mail be identified as being sent from a state correctional
institution; excepting telephone calls and mail to or from
an attorney; and requiring the commissioner of corrections
to propose legislative rules setting forth procedures to
effectuate the provisions of these sections.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section seventeen, article one, chapter twenty-five of
the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, be amended and reenacted; and that said article be
further amended by adding thereto a new section, designated
section eighteen, all to read as follows:
ARTICLE 1. ORGANIZATION AND INSTITUTIONS.
§25-1-17.Monitoring of inmate
and patient
(a) The commissioner of corrections or his or her designee
is authorized to monitor, intercept, record, and disclose any
telephone calls to or from an adult inmate or patient inmates of
any state penal or correctional institution institutions in
accordance with the following provisions:
(1) All adult inmates or patients of the state correctional
institutions shall be notified in writing that their telephone
conversations may be monitored, intercepted, recorded and
disclosed;
(2) Except as provided for in this subsection, only Only
the commissioner and his or her designee shall have access to any
such recordings of telephone calls recordings of inmates'
telephone calls unless disclosed pursuant to subdivision (4) of
this subsection;
(3) A notice Notice shall be prominently placed on or immediately near every telephone on which monitoring may take
place that may be monitored;
(4) The contents of inmates' telephone conversation calls
shall may be disclosed only if the disclosure is:
(A) Necessary to safeguard the orderly operation of the
penal or correctional institution;
(B) Necessary for the investigation of a crime;
(C) Necessary for the prevention of a crime;
(D) Necessary for the prosecution of a crime; or
(E) Required by an order of a court of competent
jurisdiction; or
(F)Necessary to protect persons from physical harm or
mental anguish;
(5) All recordings of telephone conversations, calls unless
being disclosed in accordance with the proceeding subdivision,
shall may be destroyed within twelve months after the recording
unless disclosed pursuant to subdivision (4) of this subsection;
(6) To safeguard the sanctity of the attorney-client
privilege, a separate telephone line that is not monitored shall
be made available and no conversation between an inmate or
patient and for telephone calls to or from an attorney. Such
calls shall not be monitored, intercepted, recorded or disclosed
in any matter unless required by an order of a court of competent jurisdiction;
(b) The commissioner shall propose legislative rules in
accordance with the provisions of article three, chapter twenty- nine-a of this code for such monitoring, intercepting, recording
or disclosing of telephone calls to effectuate the provisions of
this section.
(c) The provisions of this section shall only apply only to
those persons serving a West Virginia state sentence of
imprisonment while imprisoned in a facility under the direction
of the commissioner of corrections.
§25-1-18. Monitoring of inmate mail; procedures and restrictions;
identifying mail from a state correctional institution; mail
to or from attorneys excepted.
(a) The commissioner of corrections or his or her designee
is authorized to monitor, open, review, copy and disclose mail to
or from adult inmates of state correctional institutions in
accordance with the following provisions:
(1) All adult inmates of state correctional institutions
shall be notified in writing that their mail may be monitored,
opened, reviewed, copied and disclosed;
(2) Only the commissioner and his or her designee shall have
access to copies of inmates' mail unless disclosed pursuant to
subdivision (4) of this subsection;
(3) Notice that the mail may be monitored shall be
prominently placed on or immediately near every mail receptacle
or other designated area for the collection or delivery of mail;
(4) The contents of inmates' mail may be disclosed only if
the disclosure is:
(A) Necessary to safeguard the orderly operation of the
correctional institution;
(B) Necessary for the investigation of a crime;
(C) Necessary for the prevention of a crime;
(D) Necessary for the prosecution of a crime;
(E) Required by an order of a court of competent
jurisdiction; or
(F)Necessary to protect persons from physical harm or
mental anguish;
(5) All copies of mail may be destroyed within twelve months
unless disclosed pursuant to subdivision (4) of this subsection;
(6) All inmates' mail shall be identified as being sent from
a state correctional institution; and
(7) To safeguard the sanctity of the attorney-client
privilege, mail to or from an inmate's attorney shall not be
monitored, reviewed, copied, or disclosed in any manner unless
required by an order of a court of competent jurisdiction:
Provided, That such mail may be checked for weapons, drugs, and other contraband, and to determine if it is legitimately from the
inmate's attorney.
(b) The commissioner shall propose legislative rules in
accordance with the provisions of article three, chapter twenty- nine-a of this code to effectuate the provisions of this section.
(c) The provisions of this section shall apply only to those
persons serving a West Virginia state sentence of imprisonment.
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(NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to authorize the
division of corrections to monitor inmates' telephone calls and
mail in state correctional institutions while safeguarding the
attorney-client privilege.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken
from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language
that would be added. Section eighteen is new; therefore, strike- throughs and underscoring have been omitted.)
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