ENGROSSED
COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE
FOR
Senate Bill No. 177
(By Senators Love, Dawson, Ball, Mitchell, Hunter and Sprouse)
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[Originating in the Committee on the Judiciary;
reported February 3, 2000.]
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A BILL to repeal section six, article five, chapter twenty-eight of
the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-
one, as amended; and to amend and reenact section three-a,
article one, chapter twenty-five of said code, relating to
inmate funds; requiring commissioner to make an annual report
regarding the average cost of incarceration; and authorizing
the division of corrections to collect certain costs from
inmates.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section six, article five, chapter twenty-eight of the
code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as
amended, be repealed; and that section three-a, article one, chapter twenty-five of said code, be amended and reenacted to read
as follows:
ARTICLE 1. ORGANIZATION AND INSTITUTIONS.
§25-1-3a. Trustee accounts and funds, earnings and personal
property of inmates.
(a) The commissioner of
public institutions corrections is
hereby authorized
and empowered to establish at each institution
under his
or her jurisdiction
except the West Virginia Penitentiary
at Moundsville, the Medium Security Prison at Huttonsville and the
State Prison for Women at Pence Springs, a "superintendent's a
"trustee fund". The
superintendent warden or administrator of
each institution
when such is deemed necessary, shall receive and
take charge of the money and
valuables personal property, as
defined by policy, of all inmates in his
or her institution and all
money or
valuables personal property, as defined by policy, sent to
such the inmates or earned by
such the inmates as compensation for
work performed while they are domiciled there. The
superintendent
warden or administrator shall credit
such the money and earnings to
the inmate entitled
thereto to it and shall keep an accurate
account of all such money and
valuables personal property so
received, which account
shall be is subject to examination by the
state commissioner of
public institutions corrections. The
superintendent warden or administrator shall deposit
such the
moneys in one or more responsible banks in accounts to be
designated
superintendent's a "trustee fund".
(b) For all inmates, except those serving life without mercy,
the warden or administrator shall keep in an account at least ten
percent of all money earned during the inmate's incarceration and
pay same to the inmate at the time of the inmate's release.
(c) The commissioner of corrections may direct that offenders
who work in community work programs, including work release inmates
who have obtained employment, make reimbursement to the state
towards the cost of his or her incarceration.
(d) (1) Prior to ordering an incarcerated offender to make
reimbursement towards the costs of his or her incarceration, the
commissioner, or his or her designee, shall consider the following:
(A) The offender's ability to pay;
(B) The nature and extent of the offender's responsibilities
to his or her dependents, if any;
(C) The length of probable incarceration under the court's
sentence; and
(D) The effect, if any, that reimbursement might have on the
offender's rehabilitation.
(2) No order of reimbursement entered pursuant to this section may exceed five hundred dollars per month unless the offender gives
his or her express consent.
(3) The commissioner of corrections shall, prior to the
beginning of each fiscal year, prepare a report that details the
average cost per inmate incurred by the division for the care and
supervision of those individuals in his or her custody.
(e) The chief executive officer of any correctional
institution, on request of an inmate, may expend up to one half of
the money earned by the inmate on behalf of the family of the
inmate if the ten percent mandatory savings has first been set
aside and other fees owed by the inmate have been paid. The
remainder of the money earned, after deducting amounts expended as
authorized, shall be accumulated to the credit of the inmate and be
paid to the inmate at times as may be prescribed by rules. The
funds so accumulated on behalf of inmates shall be held by the
chief executive officer of each institution, under a bond approved
by the attorney general.
(f) The
superintendent warden or administrator shall deliver
to the inmate at the time he
or she leaves the institution,
or as
soon as practicable thereafter, all
valuables personal property,
moneys and earnings then credited to
him the inmate, or in case of
the death of
such the inmate before
leaving authorized release from the institution, the
superintendent warden or administrator shall
deliver
such the property to
his the inmate's personal
representative.
Provided, however, That In case a
committee
conservator is appointed for
such the inmate while he
or she is
domiciled at the institution, the
superintendent warden or
administrator shall deliver to
such committee the conservator, upon
proper demand, all moneys and
valuables personal property belonging
to the inmate
which that are in the custody of the
superintendent
warden or administrator.