General Assembly>Division of Legislative Services>Publications>Session Summaries>2003>Prisons and Other Methods of Correction

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Prisons and Other Methods of Correction

Passed

P HB1382

Courthouse and courtroom security; assessment. Eliminates the "July 1, 2004" sunset on the provision that allows any county or city to assess a sum not in excess of five dollars as part of the costs in each criminal or traffic case in its district or circuit court in which the defendant is convicted that is collected by the clerk of the court, remitted to the treasurer and held by the treasurer subject to appropriation by the governing body to the sheriff's office for the funding of courthouse security.
Patron - Cosgrove

P HB1782

Probation and parole services; powers and duties of the director of the Department of Corrections. Modifies the appointment process for probation and parole officers so that they become classified state employees with judicial authorization to serve as an officer of the court instead of being appointed by the circuit court judges. Transfers may not be effected without the concurrence of the officer. The Director, after consultation with the court, designates supervisory staff for probation and parole officers. This provision applies only to those officers appointed after July 1, 2003.
Patron - Kilgore

P HB1924

Notice of release on parole. Requires the Parole Board to notify the attorney for the Commonwealth in the jurisdiction where the inmate was sentenced by certified mail at least 21 business days prior to release on discretionary parole of any inmate convicted of a felony and sentenced to a term of 10 or more years. Currently, the Board is required to notify of release for any type of parole, not solely discretionary parole.
Patron - Almand

P HB2004

State and local correctional facilities; furloughs. Provides that the time during which a prisoner is on furlough shall not be counted as time served against any sentence, and during any furlough, the prisoner shall not be credited with earned sentence credits, good conduct allowance or any other sentence reduction.
Patron - Bell

P HB2020

Restoration of civil right to register to vote. Changes the definition of "violent felony," which if committed serves as a disqualifying event for any person seeking to restore his right to be eligible to register to vote. Currently, in this statute "violent felony" includes: homicide, mob violence, abduction and kidnapping, various types of assaults and bodily woundings, robbery, threats of bodily injury, and criminal sexual assaults. Also currently, the definition includes the conspiracy to commit such felonies and principals in the second degree and accessories before the fact. The proposed change would add: burglary and related offenses, personal trespass by computer, certain offenses committed against railroads and other utilities, various firearms and weapons offenses, prostitution, sodomy, various crimes against children, various obscenity offenses, certain offenses causing riots and prohibited paramilitary activity, obstruction of justice, escapes by prisoners, conspiracy to incite one race against another, and certain felonies committed by prisoners that are listed in § 53.1-203. The proposed change includes the conspiracy and the attempt to commit such added felonies and the commission of any substantially similar offense under the laws of the United States or its territories, or of another state, or of the District of Columbia.
Patron - Bell

P HB2180

Jail policies. Provides that jailers shall keep a written policy stating the criteria and condition of earned credit in the facility; clarifies the rate for earning good conduct credit for prisoners convicted of misdemeanors; and provides that in order for a prisoner to work on certain properties on a voluntary basis (in order to receive credit on his sentence for the work done), orders must be specific for identified individual prisoners. The bill also provides that for all offenses committed on or after July 1, 2003, any order that does not specifically identify individual prisoners shall be void. This bill is a recommendation of the Virginia State Crime Commission and is identical to SB 1146.
Patron - Kilgore

P HB2222

Financial responsibility of sheriffs and localities for medical treatment of inmates. Clarifies that a sheriff, jail superintendent or a locality is not required to pay for the medical treatment of an inmate for an injury, illness, or condition that existed prior to the inmate's commitment to a local or regional facility, except that medical treatment shall not be withheld for any communicable diseases or life-threatening conditions. This bill is identical to SB 1169.
Patron - Keister

P HB2245

Parole; community-based programs. Permits the Department of Corrections to give prisoners who have not been convicted of a violent crime and who have been sentenced to serve a term of imprisonment of at least three years the opportunity to participate in residential community programs, work release, or community-based programs approved by the Secretary of Public Safety within six months of such prisoner's projected or mandatory release date.
Patron - Watts

P HB2427

Virginia Correctional Enterprises Advisory Board. Abolishes the Virginia Correctional Enterprises Advisory Board. The Board reviews new products and services manufactured or produced by Virginia Correctional Enterprises and their pricing structure, evaluates the level and quality of products and customer services and makes recommendations, and advises the Director on business trends, product development, contract opportunities, and other related matters. The Board has not been able to function to the full capacity of its mandate in evaluating and scrutinizing products and services of Virginia Correctional Enterprises. This bill is a recommendation of the Joint Subcommittee Studying the Operations, Practices, Duties, and Funding of the Commonwealth's Agencies, Boards, Commissions, Councils, and Other Governmental Entities pursuant to HJR 159 (2002). This bill is identical to SB 764.
Patron - Hugo

P HB2719

Buckingham Correctional Center. Authorizes the Department of Corrections to exchange a certain parcel of land adjacent to the Buckingham Correctional Center for a parcel owned by a private landowner.
Patron - Abbitt

P HB2765

Corrections; payment of costs by local inmates. Allows local sheriffs and jail superintendents to establish a program under which they would charge each inmate in their facility a reasonable fee, not to exceed one dollar per day, to defray the costs of his keep. The Board of Corrections would develop a model plan and adopt regulations to govern such a program. The funds generated would stay with the locality where collected to be used for general jail purposes.
Patron - Drake

P SB764

Virginia Correctional Enterprises Advisory Board. Abolishes the Virginia Correctional Enterprises Advisory Board. The Board reviews new products and services manufactured or produced by Virginia Correctional Enterprises and their pricing structure, evaluates the level and quality of products and customer services and makes recommendations, and advises the Director on business trends, product development, contract opportunities, and other related matters. The Board has not been able to function to the full capacity of its mandate in evaluating and scrutinizing products and services of Virginia Correctional Enterprises. This bill is a recommendation of the Joint Subcommittee Studying the Operations, Practices, Duties, and Funding of the Commonwealth's Agencies, Boards, Commissions, Councils, and Other Governmental Entities pursuant to HJR 159 (2002). This bill is identical to HB 2427.
Patron - Ruff

P SB1069

Sheriffs; courthouse security. Removes the sunset on the provision that allows a portion of the costs assessed on criminal and traffic cases, in which the defendant is convicted, to be used for courthouse security.
Patron - Rerras

P SB1146

Jail policies. Provides that jailers shall keep a written policy stating the criteria and condition of earned credit in the facility; clarifies the rate for earning good conduct credit for prisoners convicted of misdemeanors; and provides that in order for a prisoner to work on certain properties on a voluntary basis (in order to receive credit on his sentence for the work done), orders must be specific for identified individual prisoners. The bill also provides that for all offenses committed on or after July 1, 2003, any order that does not specifically identify individual prisoners shall be void. This bill is a recommendation of the Virginia State Crime Commission. This bill is identical to HB 2180.
Patron - Stolle

P SB1169

Financial responsibility of sheriffs and localities for medical treatment of inmates. Clarifies that a sheriff, jail superintendent or a locality is not required to pay for the medical treatment of an inmate for an injury, illness, or condition that existed prior to the inmate's commitment to a local or regional facility except that medical treatment shall not be withheld for any communicable diseases or life threatening conditions. This bill is identical to HB 2222.
Patron - Puckett

Failed

F HB2002

Local correctional facilities; minimum length of sentence served. Requires that no misdemeanant be released from any local correctional facility until he has served at least 85 percent of each misdemeanor sentence ordered by the court. State-responsible prisoners, whether eligible for parole or not, shall not be eligible for or receive good conduct credits. The bill requires the Department of Corrections to report on the compliance of each local jail facility with this provision by November 30, 2003. The Commonwealth is to reimburse localities for any increased costs associated with this bill.
Patron - Bell

F HB2003

State and local correctional facilities; home/electronic incarceration programs. Prohibits the earning of good conduct credits, earned sentence credits, good conduct allowance or any other sentence reduction during any time in which a prisoner is assigned to a home/electronic incarceration program.
Patron - Bell

F HB2218

Prisoner work forces; liability. Provides that the sheriff (or his employees), locality or local governing body shall not be liable for civil damages for personal injury or property damage sustained by a prisoner participating in a local work force unless the damage arises from an employee's willful misconduct.
Patron - Suit

F HB2223

Felonies and misdemeanors by prisoners. Makes it a Class 1 misdemeanor for a prisoner in a state, local, or community correctional facility, or in the custody of an employee thereof, to procure, sell, secrete, or have in his possession any tobacco, or tobacco product.
Patron - Keister

F HB2293

Good conduct allowance; mandatory functional literacy requirement. Provides for good conduct allowance for prisoners depending on their performance and conduct in which escalating credits toward good conduct allowance are available in four class levels. The highest level available is 50 percent credit for those prisoners with exemplary behavior and who have earned or are making progress toward earning their general educational development (GED) certificate.
Patron - Devolites

F HB2394

Corrections; identification card. Requires the Director of the Department of Corrections to work with appropriate state entities to ensure that each offender, prior to release, receives a valid identification card with his photograph and release address.
Patron - Athey

F HB2734

Home/electronic incarceration program. Allows good conduct credit, earned sentence credit, good conduct allowance or any other reduction of sentence to accrue during any time in which a prisoner is assigned to a home/electronic incarceration program.
Patron - Melvin

F SB709

Death penalty; moratorium on executions. Provides that the Commonwealth shall not conduct executions of prisoners sentenced to death. All other matters of law relating to the death penalty, such as bringing and trying capital charges, sentencing proceedings, appeals and habeas review are not affected by the bill.
Patron - Marsh

F SB776

Conveyance of Tidewater Correctional Unit 22 building and property. Authorizes the Commonwealth to convey the Tidewater Correctional Unit 22 building and surrounding property to the City of Chesapeake upon terms to be agreed upon by the parties. The property would be used by the City solely for parks and recreational purposes.
Patron - Blevins

F SB928

Rehabilitative passport. Allows a convicting court or the Parole Board to issue a "rehabilitative passport" to a person who has been convicted of no more than one felony, meets certain criteria and is not incarcerated in a state correctional facility. The relief granted must be consistent with the rehabilitation of the person and with the public interest. The rehabilitative passport removes disabilities, forfeitures and bars selected by the court or Parole Board that the person might otherwise face because of his criminal record. There are provisions for revocation of a passport if the person violates certain conditions.
Patron - Byrne

F SB1085

Parole eligibility. Provides that a person who was sentenced to a life sentence under the three-time-loser law in effect prior to the aboliton of parole in 1995 may petition the Parole Board for conditional release if his sentence is based on three robbery convictions where there was no physical injury to the victim, he has served at least 20 years of the sentence imposed and is at least 55 years old.
Patron - Lambert

F SB1254

Good conduct allowance; mandatory functional literacy requirement. Provides for good conduct allowance for prisoners depending on their performance and conduct in which escalating credits toward good conduct allowance are available in four class levels. The highest level available is 50 percent credit for those prisoners with exemplary behavior and who have earned or are making progress toward earning their general educational development (GED) certificate.
Patron - Maxwell

F SB1317

State funds available to local correctional facilities for operating costs. Requires the Compensation Board to recover the state-funded personnel costs associated with housing federal inmates, District of Columbia inmates, or contract inmates from other states.
Patron - Ruff

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General Assembly>Division of Legislative Services>Publications>Session Summaries>2003>Prisons and Other Methods of Correction

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