Prisons and Other Methods of Correction

Passed

P HB1765

Telephone systems within correctional facilities. Requires the Department of Corrections to offer prepaid or debit telephone systems, in addition to existing collect calling systems. Such telephone systems may be established with the lowest available rates. The bill has a delayed effective date of January 1, 2006.
Patron - Dillard

P HB1943

Property conveyance; former Staunton Correctional Center. Authorizes the Governor to convey the former Staunton Correctional Center to the Staunton Industrial Authority without consideration. This bill is identical to SB 1015.
Patron - Saxman

P HB2369

Court orders permitting prisoners to work on certain property. Removes the requirement that court orders allowing prisoners to work on state, county, city, town, and certain private property or nonprofit organization property be written specifically for individual prisoners.
Patron - Bryant

P HB2436

Continued hospitalization of involuntarily admitted prisoners. Provides that when there is no further need for involuntary hospitalization, a prisoner may be retained in the hospital if the prisoner is capable of and consents to voluntary admission, and is determined to be in need of continued hospitalization by a licensed physician, psychiatrist, or clinical psychologist.
Patron - Carrico

P HB2823

Board of Parole; power and duties; parole. Requires that the Board's rules for parole and eligibility be published and posted for public review and that the monthly statement published by the Board regarding action taken by the Board on the parole of prisoners shall include the basis for denial of parole.
Patron - Rust

P SB1015

Former Staunton Correctional Center; conveyance. Authorizes the Governor to convey the former Staunton Correctional Center to the Staunton Industrial Authority without consideration. This bill is identical to HB 1943.
Patron - Hanger

Failed

F HB1675

Suspension or modification of sentence for cooperation with prosecution. Provides that when a person has been sentenced for a felony to the Department of Corrections, the court that heard the case may, after a hearing upon motion of the Commonwealth, suspend all or part of the unserved portion of the person's sentence. This intends to accommodate a case where an inmate cooperates and testifies in the prosecution of another person.
Patron - Cosgrove

F HB1713

Residential community programs. Requires the Department of Corrections to give nonviolent prisoners who have not been sentenced upon a conviction of murder in the first degree, rape in violation of § 18.2-61, forcible sodomy, animate or inanimate object sexual penetration, aggravated sexual battery, or sentenced to one or more life terms the opportunity, where available, to participate in a residential community program, work release, or a community-based program. Current law requires that the prisoner not be convicted of any violent crime and be sentenced to at least three years. The bill also restricts the cost of keep to up to 30 percent of gross earnings. This bill is identical to and incorporates HB 1764.
Patron - Shuler

F HB1764

Residential community programs. Requires the Department of Corrections to give nonviolent prisoners who have not been sentenced upon a conviction of murder in the first degree, rape in violation of § 18.2-61, forcible sodomy, animate or inanimate object sexual penetration or aggravated sexual battery or sentenced to life imprisonment the opportunity to participate in a residential community program, work release, or a community-based program. Current law requires that the prisoner not be convicted of any violent crime and be sentenced to at least three years. The bill also restricts the cost of keep to up to 30 percent of gross earnings. This bill is identical to and has been incorporated into HB 1713.
Patron - Dillard

F HB1995

Regional jails. Extends the deadline for consideration of construction, enlargement, or renovation of certain local or regional jail facilities as that deadline applies to Roanoke County-Salem Jail under the appropriations act. This bill contains an emergency clause to make it effective upon passage.
Patron - Griffith

F HB2108

Good conduct credit for home/electronic incarceration. Provides that each prisoner sentenced to 12 months or less for a misdemeanor or any combination of misdemeanors shall earn good conduct credit at the rate of one day for each one day served in confinement or in home/electronic incarceration. Currently, pursuant to a 1997 opinion of the Attorney General, a prisoner may not earn good conduct credit for home/electronic incarceration.
Patron - McQuigg

F HB2360

Reading for Good Time. Establishes a Reading for Good Time credits program in which inmates can receive additional good conduct allowance for reading and passing examinations on approved material. Good conduct allowance is applied to reduce the person's maximum term of confinement in any state correctional facility.
Patron - Watts

F HB2480

Private operation of local jail facilities. Allows the privatization of local jails using the same procedures as adopted for the privatization of regional jail facilities (e.g., standards for contractors, indemnification, authority and duties of contractors and employees).
Patron - May

F HB2500

Required testing of prisoners for viral hepatitis. Requires the Department of Corrections to test each prisoner committed to the Department for hepatitis B and hepatitis C. Prisoners found to be currently infected with hepatitis B or hepatitis C shall be vaccinated for hepatitis A and hepatitis B and shall be provided treatment in accordance with Food and Drug Administration approved therapies.
Patron - Amundson

F HB2724

Child-friendly visiting rooms in state and local correctional facilities. Requires each state and local correctional facility to provide child-friendly visiting rooms which include activities for young children, adequate facilities with private areas for nursing, and regulations that do not penalize inmates with sanctions, such as the termination of a visit, for normal child behavior.
Patron - Scott, J.M.

F HB2726

Discharge of prisoner; required records to be provided to prisoner upon release. Requires the Director of the Department of Corrections to provide each prisoner with the following documents upon discharge: (i) the prisoner's medical records, including copies of current prescriptions and a physician's summary of continuing or pending medical treatment; (ii) verification of the prisoner's work history while in custody; and (iii) verification of all educational and treatment programs completed by the prisoner while in custody.
Patron - Scott, J.M.

F HB2755

Procedures for restoration of right to vote for certain persons. Eliminates the requirement that persons convicted of nonviolent felonies must wait five years after completion of sentence to petition through the courts for restoration of their right to vote.
Patron - Bland

F HB2779

Mandatory parole. Defines "technical violation" as any failure to adhere to conditions of parole that is not deliberate defiance or does not constitute further criminal conduct. The bill provides that technical violators will not be required to serve the minimum six months prior to release following parole revocation and that good conduct credits will apply to sentences served as the result of parole violations that were technical.
Patron - Shuler

F HB2890

Board of Corrections; membership; powers. Increases the membership of the State Board of Corrections from nine to 12 members and requires the appointees to include three community leaders, three elected officials, three members of the medical profession, and three citizens with an immediate family member incarcerated within the Commonwealth of Virginia. The bill also requires the Board to report to the Governor on a quarterly basis and to the General Assembly at least once per year during the month of November. Finally, the bill allows the Board to enter and inspect Department of Corrections' facilities at any time.
Patron - Ebbin

F HB2915

Board of Corrections; zoning ordinances. Gives the Board of Corrections the authority to license community-based or privately operated residential facilities or group homes for the purpose of housing and providing for the temporary care of probationers and parolees. The bill also restricts zoning ordinances from (i) impeding the integration of formerly incarcerated persons into the community, or (ii) excluding the use of residential transitional housing for formerly incarcerated persons where such multioccupancy dwellings or facilities are already permitted for other purposes.
Patron - Eisenberg

F HB2917

Correctional officer; definition. Provides that any person serving in the capacity of warden, assistant warden, or superintendent of a state correctional facility shall be a certified correctional officer.
Patron - Spruill

F SB805

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 - Marsh

F SB870

Mandatory release on parole. Provides that a prisoner whose parole is revoked on a technical violation is not required to serve the minimum six months. Under this bill, the prisoner would receive credit for good time if the parole violation was technical, but not if the violation involved a new and subsequent charge. "Technical violation" means any failure to adhere to conditions of parole that is not deliberate defiance of those conditions or does not constitute further criminal conduct or both.
Patron - Quayle

F SB940

Illegal conveyance or possession of cellular telephone by prisoner; penalty. Creates a Class 6 felony for providing or causing to be provided a cellular telephone to an incarcerated prisoner, or for an incarcerated prisoner to possess a cellular telephone during the period of his incarceration.
Patron - Puckett

F SB941

State Board of Corrections; powers and duties. Authorizes the Board to designate one or more state correctional facilities as drug rehabilitation facilities for non-violent offenders whose crimes are related to drug abuse or drug addiction.
Patron - Puckett

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General Assembly>Division of Legislative Services>Publications>Session Summaries>2005>Prisons and Other Methods of Correction

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