WV Judiciary Subcommittee Moves 2 Bills
The House of Delegates Judiciary Subcommittee A approved two pieces of draft legislation Jan. 9 aimed at increasing personal protection and decreasing the number of offenders currently in state’s corrections system.
The Public Safety and Offender Accountability Act “is an omnibus revision of the criminal justice system,” according to the bill’s abstract. “The primary objective of the bill is to maintain public safety and hold offenders accountable while reducing recidivism and improving outcomes for offenders.” Report by The State Journal.
The West Virginia Legislature has been looking at the issue of jail and prison overcrowding for some time. Jim Rubenstein, commissioner of the West Virginia Department of Corrections, and Larry Parsons, executive director of the West Virginia Regional Jail Authority, have testified before a variety of legislative interim committees on the issue. In previous testimony, both have said nearly 1,800 inmates have created a strain on already-strapped resources. Problems within the system include double-bunking, an increase in assaults and an inability to separate inmates based on classifications, among other problems.
But the Public Safety and Offender Accountability Act aims to strengthen probation and parole. For example, the bill would require courts and corrections authorities to incorporate risk and needs assessment information into the decision-making process, including for pre-trial supervision, at sentencing, in evaluating parole suitability and setting terms for parole and throughout the period of probation and parole supervision. The bill also authorizes the Department of Corrections to allow offenders to complete required programming in the community while under GPS monitoring.
Rubenstein said at the Jan. 9 meeting that the Department of Corrections does have a number of substance abuse treatment beds at Mount Olive as well as beds in the Beckley facility.
“We provide education, treatment and extended treatment,” he told the committee.
Rubenstein said the Department of Corrections is working to streamline how it determines an offender’s needs. He said the department will begin using LS/CMI, or Level of Service/Case Management Inventory, to determine if an inmate has a critical need, no need or is somewhere in between. He went on to say that some inmates are waiting for space to open up before they can be treated for their substance abuse addictions, though he couldn’t pinpoint how many.
“I imagine that would change from facility to facility,” he said.
The committee also approved a draft of a bill that would increase personal safety. Currently, the only type of restraining order a person can take out is against family or same-household members. However, the bill proposed a more general restraining order that can be issued in cases of stalking, trespassing and destruction of property, among other offenses.
Proceedings regarding the general restraining order would be heard in magistrate court as opposed to family court.
Although organizations associated with domestic violence pushed for this bill, it has not been vetted by law enforcement or the courts, according to counsel. Adults can take out this order for themselves, for minors or incapacitated adults. Petitioners must prove the acts against them as well as a reasonable apprehension that the acts would continue unless the order is issued.
“The idea is this will be, for a lot of folks, an opportunity to protect themselves in ways they can’t now,” counsel told the committee.
Both drafts will now go to the House Judiciary Committee for its consideration.
A recent upswing in the number of assaults at the Industrial Home for Youth facility in Salem has the West Virginia Division of Juvenile Services looking to make some changes in how its offenders are housed. 