General Assembly>Division of Legislative Services>Publications>Session Summaries>2007>Prisons and Other Methods of Correction


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Prisons and Other Methods of Correction

Passed

P HB 1932

Jail farms. Clarifies that a local jail farm may be used to hold or confine a person who could be held or confined in a regional or local jail. This bill is identical to SB 1016.
Patron - Rapp

P HB 2041

Department of Correctional Education; online learning. Empowers the Department to develop programs for restricted Internet access to online higher education courses by incarcerated persons.
Patron - Hamilton

P HB 2418

Transfer of prisoner to facility housing death chamber; confidentiality of execution records. Provides that the identities of persons designated by the Director to conduct an execution shall be exempt from the Freedom of Information Act, and shall not subject to discovery or introduction as evidence in any civil proceeding, unless good cause is shown. The bill also removes the specific time constraints on when a prisoner condemned to die must be transferred to the correctional center that houses the death chamber.
Patron - Kilgore

P HB 2625

Prisoners; identification of learning disabilities. Provides that the Superintendent of the Department of Correctional Education, in cooperation with the Department of Corrections, shall create a system for identifying prisoners with learning disabilities.
Patron - Reid

P SB 836

Department of Corrections; physical examination of prisoner; ability to work. Requires the Department to medically examine each prisoner within 30 days prior to a work assignment in food services, medical services, or cosmetological services, and within 30 days prior to a change in work assignment.
Patron - Devolites Davis

P SB 953

Department of Correctional Education; videoconferencing. Empowers the Department to provide access to postsecondary education that includes college credit, certification through an accredited vocational training program, or other accredited continuing education program, using videoconferencing technology.
Patron - Quayle

P SB 1016

Jail farms. Clarifies that a local jail farm may be used to hold or confine a person who could be held or confined in a regional or local jail. This bill is identical to HB 1932.
Patron - Norment

P SB 1047

Conveyance of state-owned property; Southampton County. Conveys a parcel of real property to Southampton County from the Board of Corrections for use by the sheriff's office.
Patron - Lucas

P SB 1069

Pilot programs for drug and alcohol treatment in local and regional jails. Allows for drug and alcohol treatment programs for inmates housed within local and regional jails. Requires each drug and alcohol program to submit a report to the General Assembly by December 1, 2007, concerning the participants, accessibility, and the efficacy of the program.
Patron - McDougle

P SB 1082

Courthouse security; assessment. Increases from $5 to $10 the part of the costs in each criminal or traffic case in district or circuit courts in which the defendant is convicted of a violation of any statute or ordinance that is used to provide and maintain courthouse security.
Patron - Puckett

P SB 1295

Transfer of prisoner to facility housing death chamber; confidentiality of execution records. Provides that the identities of persons designated by the Director to conduct an execution are confidential, exempt from the Freedom of Information Act, and not subject to discovery or introduction as evidence in any civil proceeding unless good cause is shown. The bill also removes the specific time constraints on when a prisoner condemned to die must be transferred to the correctional center that houses the death chamber. The bill is identical to HB 2418.
Patron - Norment

P SB 1378

Contracts for the provision of community-based residential services; localities authorized to approve or deny. Provides that upon determining that it shall be desirable to contract with a public or private entity for the provision of community-based residential services, the Director of Corrections shall notify the local governing body of the jurisdiction in which the facility is to be located of the proposal and of the facility's proposed location and provide notice, where requested, to the chief law-enforcement officer for such locality when an offender is placed in the facility at issue.
Patron - Obenshain

P SB 1385

Corrections Private Management Act. Adds entities that provide corrections services to federal inmates to the definition of prison contractor and provides that security employees of a prison contractor are allowed to use force and exercise their powers and authority while providing inmate security for prisoners at a medical facility in the Commonwealth.
Patron - Stolle

Failed

F HB 2034

Payment for health care costs of prisoners. Requires that payment by local and state correctional facilities for costs incurred for health care for prisoners not exceed the lesser of the amount that would be paid under Medicare or Medicaid.
Patron - Hamilton

F HB 2512

Regional jails. Allows the state to partner with a city to establish, maintain, and operate a regional jail in the same manner as a local governing body. The State Board of Corrections with the city's sheriff and one other local representative would serve as the managing board or authority.
Patron - Jones, D.C.

F HB 2633

Parole; basis for parole denial. Provides that once a person is eligible for parole, the nature of the offense shall not be used in determining that person's suitability for parole, and no person shall be denied parole based solely on the nature of the offense after being eligible for parole for five years.
Patron - Reid

F HB 2745

Child-friendly visiting rooms in state and local correctional facilities. Requires each state correctional facility to provide child-friendly visiting rooms that include activities for young children, and regulations that do not penalize inmates with sanctions, such as the termination of a visit, when visiting children display normal child behavior.
Patron - Englin

F HB 2872

Time and manner of payment to local correctional facilities. Requires the Compensation Board to reimburse local governing bodies for state responsible prisoners in local correctional facilities every 60 days instead of the current quarterly reimbursement.
Patron - McEachin

F HB 2918

Courthouse security; assessment. Increases from $5 to $15 the part of the costs in each criminal or traffic case in district or circuit courts in which the defendant is convicted of a violation of any statute or ordinance that is used to provide and maintain courthouse security.
Patron - Bowling

F HB 3174

Comprehensive Parole Reduction Act. Requires the Parole Board to adopt an analytical scale to assess risk and establishes a Parole Guidelines Review Panel. The bill also provides that, with some exceptions, once a person is considered eligible for parole the Parole Board shall not use the nature of the offense in determining that person's eligibility or suitability for release on parole and no person shall be denied parole based solely on the nature of the offense after the fifth year of becoming eligible.
Patron - BaCote

F SB 754

Child-friendly visiting rooms in state correctional facilities. Requires each state correctional facility to provide child-friendly visiting rooms to promote positive bonds between incarcerated parents and their children. Requires Department of Corrections to promulgate regulations that do not penalize inmates with sanctions, such as termination of a visit, when visiting children display normal child behavior.
Patron - Miller

F SB 773

Child-friendly visiting rooms in state and local correctional facilities. Requires each state correctional facility to provide child-friendly visiting rooms that 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, when visiting children display normal child behavior. This bill was incorporated into SB 754.
Patron - Miller

F SB 834

Earned sentence credits for rehabilitative programs. Allows five additional sentence credits for each 30 days of participation in a rehabilitative program, provided the inmate has been convicted of a non-violent felony committed on or after January 1, 1995, participates in an approved educational program, and completes a mental health or substance abuse treatment program deemed appropriate by the Director. This bill was incorporated into SB 1287.
Patron - Devolites Davis

F SB 1079

Therapeutic Incarceration Program. Creates a sentencing alternative, Therapeutic Incarceration Program, for a defendant who otherwise would be sentenced to three years or longer for a felony conviction and who the court determines requires treatment for drug or alcohol substance abuse. The Program allows the court to sentence the defendant to an intensive therapeutic community-style substance abuse treatment program of a duration of 18 months or longer and a transitional therapeutic community-style substance abuse reentry program of six months and, after successful completion, to suspend the remaining balance of the imposed sentence.
Patron - Puckett

F SB 1080

Telephone systems within state correctional facilities. Creates a nonreverting Prisoner Reentry Fund consisting of payments received as commission payments for telephone systems established within correctional facilities. The fund is to be used for independent prerelease and postrelease transition services programs and administered through the Department of Criminal Justice Services. The bill also caps commission payments to the Commonwealth at 10% of the amount paid by the individuals who use the service.
Patron - Puckett

F SB 1287

Good conduct allowances; 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 30% credit for those prisoners who have demonstrated exemplary behavior and who have earned or are making progress toward earning their general educational development (GED) certificate. Creates a mandatory functional literacy program for all mentally capable inmates that offers testing at a ninth-grade level. The bill also provides, for certain prisoners, credits for reading and passing examinations on books approved by the Department of Correctional Education. This bill was incorporated into SB 834.
Patron - Marsh

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General Assembly>Division of Legislative Services>Publications>Session Summaries>2007>Prisons and Other Methods of Correction

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