AN ACT CONCERNING THE DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTION.

This bill establishes a new crime and makes various unrelated changes to laws affecting the Department of Correction (DOC). Specifically, it:

1. restricts access to certain DOC-related records;

2. alters the inmate discharge savings program;

3. broadens the circumstances under which inmates may request an extended stay in correctional facilities;

4. allows the DOC commissioner to assess a fee for participation in any job training, skill development, or career opportunity or enhancement program;

5. requires the DOC commissioner to make the inmate labor pilot program consistent with governing federal guidelines (see BACKGROUND);

6. makes changes to how compensation received by program participants is handled; and

7. permits work release program participants' compensation to be levied or attached.

EFFECTIVE DATE: July 1, 2009, except that the provisions establishing the new crime and allowing inmates to request an extended stay in a correctional facility are effective on October 1, 2009.

The bill makes it a crime for an inmate to knowingly convey from place to place or possess an electronic wireless communication device in a correctional institution. First offenders are guilty of a class A misdemeanor, punishable by up to one year in prison, up to a $ 2,000 fine, or both. Subsequent offenders are guilty of a class D felony, punishable by up to five years in prison, up to a $ 5,000 fine, or both.

It is already a class A misdemeanor for any unauthorized person to (1) convey or possess with intent to convey an electronic wireless communication device to an inmate in a correctional institution or (2) use an electronic wireless communication device to take a photo or digital image in the institution.

The bill prohibits the DOC commissioner from disclosing personnel, medical, or similar files to inmates or people confined to the Whiting Forensic Division, except pursuant to a court order. It specifies that similar files include records of department security investigations and investigations of discrimination complaints concerning current or former DOC employees. By law, personnel, medical, or similar files are subject to disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) unless the disclosure would constitute an invasion of personal privacy.

The bill exempts from disclosure under FOIA any records that would pose a safety or security risk to any correctional facility or institution to Whiting Forensic Division facility if disclosed. It specifies that the records include drawings, specifications, plans, and aerial depictions that are related to the physical plant, infrastructure, or site conditions of the institutions or facilities. By law, unchanged by the bill, records that the DOC commissioner reasonably believes may result in a safety risk are exempt from disclosure under FOIA.

The bill extends to more inmates the opportunity to remain at a correctional institution beyond a maximum sentence term. It allows inmates to ask the DOC commissioner to remain in a correctional facility for up to 90 days after their discharge date (1) if the treatment program or health care institution to which they are discharged is unable to accept them on the discharge date or (2) for any compelling reason consistent with their rehabilitation or treatment. By law, inmates participating in a state program or a department drug, work, or education release program may request an extended stay.

As for an inmate requesting an extended stay under current law, the bill requires inmates seeking an extended stay to make the request in writing at least one week before their scheduled release. By law, the DOC commissioner may charge inmates granted permission to stay a reasonable daily fee.

Under current law, the warden of each correctional facility and administrator of each community correctional center must have any compensation an inmate receives deposited into separate individual inmate bank accounts. Funds in each individual account are disbursed to pay any applicable statutory obligations, including transfer to a discharge savings account each inmate is required to establish. The law is silent on whether discharge savings account transfers have a higher or lower priority than other disbursements. The statutory disbursements are for:

1. paying taxes;

2. supporting dependents;

3. court-ordered restitution or compensation of victims, civil judgments in favor of a victim, or victim compensation through the criminal injuries account;

4. necessary travel and incidental expenses for work; and

5. payments to the court clerk if the inmate is held only for not paying a fine.

1. requires the DOC commissioner to perform the duties associated with inmate compensation currently performed by individual wardens or community correction center administrators,

2. eliminates the requirement for an individual bank account for each inmate, including inmates participating in the work release or private industry labor program, and instead requires the commissioner to direct inmates' compensation to a bank account or an account that the state treasurer administers (DOC continues to maintain individual internal accountings of each inmates funds),

3. specifies that inmates contribute to inmate discharge savings accounts after most other statutory disbursements are satisfied (only payments to court clerks by inmates held only for not paying a fine has a lower priority), and

4. applies the disbursement to court clerks for nonpayment of fines to all inmates instead of just those in community correctional centers.

Under current law, the DOC commissioner must create a discharge savings account for each inmate to accumulate up to $ 1,000 that is available to him or her on discharge. The compensation inmates receive for jobs they perform is placed in an individual bank account for the inmate and transferred from it to the inmate's discharge savings account. Once the account reaches $ 1,000, the law requires DOC to deduct 10% from any deposits to reimburse the state for the inmate's cost of incarceration, as necessary.

The bill limits the mandatory requirement to accumulate discharge savings to sentenced inmates only. It also exempts from the requirement inmates sentenced in this state but confined in another state.

It increases, from $ 1,000 to $ 1,100, the amount inmates may accumulate in the account. Once this threshold is reached, the DOC commissioner must deduct 10% from any deposits to reimburse the state for the inmate's cost of incarceration.

It prohibits funds paid to inmates from the account upon release from being used for the disbursements listed above or to pay incarceration costs. Currently, the funds must be used for disbursements.

Lastly, the bill requires inmates participating in a work release program or the private industry labor program (see below) to contribute to the discharge savings account.

By law, the DOC commissioner may establish a pilot program to use inmate labor in private industry and may enter any necessary contract including rental or lease agreements. An inmate may participate in this program only on a voluntary basis and only after he or she has been informed of the conditions of his employment. Inmates must be paid at least the prevailing wage for similar work in private industry.

1. subjects compensation received by program participants to state claims for the cost of their incarceration,

2. eliminates a requirement for the DOC commissioner or her designee to collect and deposit inmate participants' compensation in a trust account and instead subjects participants to the same income collection and deposit requirements as inmates performing services on behalf of the state,

3. permits program participants' compensation to be levied or attached, and

4. requires the DOC commissioner or her designee to notify the social services commissioner and the welfare department in the town where a program participant's dependents live of any amount being paid to the dependents by the participant.

The federal guideline governs such things as program eligibility, minimum wages, and allowable deductions from inmates' wages.

HB 1152, favorably reported by the Government Administration and Elections Committee, codifies the Perkins test for determining whether personnel, medical, or similar files constitute an invasion of personal privacy.

sHB 6670, favorably reported by the Judiciary Committee, also codifies the Perkins test.

Yea

Nay

(04/03/2009)