General Assembly>Division of Legislative Services>Publications>Session Summaries>2008>Prisons and Other Methods of Correction

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Prisons and Other Methods of Correction

Passed

P HB651

Reentry planning. Requires the Department of Corrections to develop and implement a comprehensive reentry plan for each person committed to the supervision of the Department, as soon as practicable, considering the prisoner's anticipated release date. Such plan shall identify educational, vocational, therapeutic, and other programs necessary to prepare the person for successful transition from prison to society upon the person's discharge and shall include mentor pairing to the extent possible. This bill is identical to SB 200.
Patron - Wright

P HB934

No parole for jail inmates convicted of multiple misdemeanors. Eliminates parole for a jail inmate convicted of misdemeanors on or after July 1, 2008 and sentenced to serve a total active sentence of more than 12 months. Currently, jail inmates sentenced to serve more than 12 months in jail for a combination of misdemeanor offenses are eligible for parole.
Patron - Gilbert

P HB1207

Serious juvenile offenders. Allows a juvenile convicted as an adult and sentenced to an active term of incarceration with the Department of Juvenile Justice and followed by an active term of incarceration with the Department of Corrections to gain earned sentence credits while serving the juvenile portion of the sentence in a juvenile correctional center.
Patron - Melvin

P SB200

P SB499

Sheriffs; permitting work on public or private property by inmates. Allows jail inmates to perform work on private property utilized by a nonprofit organization.
Patron - Northam

P SB633

Prisoners; Department of Corrections and Division of Child Support Enforcement to identify child support due. Requires the Department of Corrections, working in cooperation with the Division of Child Support Enforcement, to identify, at least annually, prisoners of whom child support payments are required pursuant to a court order and the amount of child support required of the prisoner pursuant to the order.
Patron - Ticer

Failed

F HB38

Credit for time served discretionary with court. Provides that when a court orders credit for time served in jail pending trial, etc., it may order that no time or a portion of the time be deducted from the sentence of a term of confinement when a person violates his terms of bail and is incarcerated in a local correctional facility for a violation of his terms of bail pending his trial or appeal.
Patron - Scott, E.T.

F HB103

Verification of citizenship and alien status of a person committed to a correctional facility. Clarifies the mandate that any person in charge of a correctional facility shall inquire as to the citizenship status of a person in his facility and to inquire of the Law Enforcement Support Center of the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement of the United States Department of Homeland Security as to the person's alien status, for purposes of reporting alien status to the Central Criminal Records Exchange.
Patron - Albo

F HB441

Correctional facilities; enforcement of federal civil immigration laws. Requires the officer in charge of a correctional facility to ensure that at least one officer on duty at the facility is authorized to enforce federal civil immigration laws, pursuant to a memorandum of understanding with federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Such an agreement is often referred to as a "287(g)" agreement. This bill was incorporated into HB 820.
Patron - Rust

F HB458

Local correctional facilities. Allows Danville and Pittsylvania to enter into a regional jail project without a third participating jurisdiction.
Patron - Merricks

F HB459

F HB703

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 HB704

Residential community programs. Directs the Department of Corrections, where appropriate and resources are available, to give nonviolent prisoners who have not been convicted of specific offenses or sentenced to one or more life terms 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 restricts the cost of keep to no more than 30 percent of the prisoner's gross earnings, and directs the Department to prescribe guidelines for the program that emphasize training and education related to job skills, literacy, money management, and other life skills.
Patron - BaCote

F HB755

Number of deputies; personnel costs for new regional jail facility. Requires the Compensation Board to consider hiring and personnel costs in preparation for the opening of a regional jail facility in fixing the number of deputies.
Patron - Poindexter

F HB763

Powers and duties of probation and parole officers; Central Criminal Records Exchange; correctional facilities; reporting and transfer of aliens to the U. S. Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Requires CCRE, probation and parole officers, correctional facilities, etc., to notify the U. S. Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement if someone in custody appears to be an alien. The bill also allows agreements to be made with the Bureau for the transfer of any alien to immigration authorities. This bill was incorporated into HB 820.
Patron - Rust

F HB764

Citizenship of persons in correctional facilities; inquiry to U.S. Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Requires the officer in charge of a correctional facility to inquire through the Law Enforcement Support Center of the U.S. Bureau of Immigration and Customs if at any time during a person's commitment it appears that the person is an alien. If it is determined that an alien is found to be within the custody of the facility, the officer in charge shall immediately notify the U.S. Bureau of Immigration and Customs as well as the Central Criminal Records Exchange. Current law only requires that the Central Criminal Records Exchange be notified. This bill was incorporated into HB 820.
Patron - Rust

F HB906

Prisoners; earned sentence credits. Allows a maximum of seven and one-half sentence credits, as opposed to the current four and one-half, for each 30 days served.
Patron - Jones, D.C.

F HB1039

Regional jail authorities; capital costs. Allows the state to reimburse certain salary expenses related to the construction of a regional jail facility, if the new facility will supplement existing jails and will not result in the closure of any existing jails.
Patron - Griffith

F HB1273

Prisoners; health care costs. Provides that payment by local correctional facilities for costs incurred for the provision of health care services for prisoners shall be limited to the lesser of the actual amount billed by the health care provider or the Medicaid rate.
Patron - Spruill

F SB28

Child-friendly visiting rooms in state correctional facilities. Permits each state correctional facility to provide child-friendly visiting rooms to promote positive bonds between incarcerated parents and their children. Any program providing child-friendly visiting rooms shall be administered by the Department of Corrections and may include the use of support services from community-based and nonprofit organizations. The Department shall promulgate regulations governing the provision and use of child-friendly visiting rooms. The bill also provides civil and criminal immunity to the Department resulting from liability arising from the operation of child-friendly visiting rooms, unless it is proven that the Department acted in bad faith or with malicious intent.
Patron - Miller, Y.B.

F SB205

Prisons and correctional facilities; 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 SB295

Parole interviews; allow videoconferencing. Provides that parole interviews may be conducted in person or by videoconferencing, by the voting members of the Parole Board, provided that interviews are recorded in full via electronic means that can be reviewed by the voting members.
Patron - Puller

F SB395

Death sentence; execution dates. Removes some of the circumstances in which circuit courts are required to set execution dates before state and federal review of an inmate's death sentence is complete. The Federal Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 has revised the remedies available to the convicted person and imposes a one-year statute of limitations for filing petitions for federal review of state convictions and sentences.
Patron - Edwards

F SB595

Regional jails. Extends the deadline for consideration of construction, enlargement, or renovation of certain local or regional jail facilities as that deadline applies to the Virginia Peninsula Regional Jail Authority.
Patron - Norment

Carried Over

C HB921

State reimbursement for local jail construction. Increases the Commonwealth's reimbursement level for local jail construction, enlargement, or renovation projects from one-fourth of capital costs to one-half of capital costs if the project results in a facility with 150 or more beds. Additionally, the bill increases the Commonwealth's reimbursement level for regional jail construction, enlargement, or renovation projects that do not meet the requirements of § 53.1-81 or 53.1-82 if the project results in a facility with 150 or more beds.
Patron - Joannou

C HB1392

Jail construction reimbursement. Provides that the Commonwealth will reimburse any county or city up to one-half of the capital costs of a jail construction or renovation project that will increase the capacity by at least 150 beds. Certain shared jail arrangements will also be reimbursed up to one-half of the capital costs for increasing capacity by 150.
Patron - Sherwood

C SB138

Medical and psychiatric benefits for prisoners. Requires the Department of Corrections to take reasonable steps to identify any benefits, including any Social Security or Veterans Administration benefits, for which a prisoner may be eligible and take such steps as may be necessary to ensure that benefits are available to the prisoner at the time of release.
Patron - Puller

C SB546

Local correctional facilities. Allows Danville and Pittsylvania to enter into a regional jail project without a third participating jurisdiction.
Patron - Hurt

C SB589

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General Assembly>Division of Legislative Services>Publications>Session Summaries>2008>Prisons and Other Methods of Correction

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