ARTICLE 20. WEST VIRGINIA REGIONAL JAIL AND
CORRECTIONAL FACILITY AUTHORITY.
§31‑20‑10.
Regional jail and correctional facility authority funds.
(a) The Regional Jail and Correctional
Facility Authority may create special funds in the State Treasury to identify
various revenue sources and payment of specific obligations. These funds may
be used for purposes that include, but are not limited to, the construction,
renovation or repair of specific facilities, cash control, facility maintenance
and the individual operations accounts of facilities operated by the
authority. The authority may create other separate accounts within these funds
that it determines are necessary for the efficient operation of the authority.
(b) Revenues deposited into these funds
shall be used to make payments of interest and shall be pledged as security for
bonds, security interests or notes issued or lease‑purchase obligations
entered into with another state entity by the authority pursuant to this
article.
(c) Whenever the authority determines that
the balance in these funds is in excess of the immediate requirements of this
article, it may request that the excess be invested until needed. In this case,
the excess shall be invested in a manner consistent with the investment of
temporary state funds. Interest earned on any money invested pursuant to this
section shall be credited to these funds.
(d) If the authority determines that
moneys held in these funds are in excess of the amount needed to carry out the
purposes of this article, it shall take any action that is necessary to
release the excess and transfer it to the General Revenue Fund of the State
Treasury.
(e) These funds consist of the following:
(1) Amounts raised by the authority by the
sale of bonds or other borrowing authorized by this article;
(2) Moneys collected and deposited in the
State Treasury which are specifically designated by Acts of the Legislature for
inclusion in these funds;
(3) Contributions, grants and gifts from
any source, both public and private, which may be used by the authority for any
project or projects;
(4) All sums paid by the counties pursuant
to subsection (h) of this section; and
(5) All interest earned on investments
made by the state from moneys deposited in these funds.
(f) The amounts deposited in these funds
shall be accounted for and expended in the following manner:
(1) Amounts raised by the sale of bonds or
other borrowing authorized by this article shall be deposited in a separate
account within these funds and expended for the purpose of construction,
renovation and repair of correctional facilities, regional jails and juvenile
detention and correctional facilities for which need has been as
determined by the authority;
(2) Amounts deposited from all other
sources shall be pledged first to the debt service on any bonded indebtedness,
including lease‑purchase obligations entered into by the authority with
another state entity or other obligation incurred by borrowing of the
authority;
(3) After any requirements of debt service
have been satisfied, the authority shall requisition from these funds the
amounts that are necessary to provide for payment of the administrative
expenses of this article;
(4) The authority shall requisition and
expend from these funds, after any requirements of debt service have been
satisfied, the amounts that are necessary for the maintenance and
operation of regional jails that are constructed pursuant to the
provisions of this article. and shall expend those amounts for that purpose
These funds shall make an accounting of all amounts received from each county
by virtue of any filing fees, court costs or fines required by law to be
deposited in these funds and amounts from the jail improvement funds of the
various counties. After the expenses of administration have been deducted, the
amounts expended in the respective regions from those sources shall be in
proportion to the percentage the amount contributed to these funds by the
counties in each region bears to the total amount received by these funds from
those sources;
(5) Notwithstanding any other provisions
of this article, sums paid into these funds by each county pursuant to
subsection (h) of this section for each inmate shall be placed in a separate
account and shall be requisitioned from these funds to pay for costs
incurred at the regional jail facility at which each inmate was incarcerated;
and
(6) Any amounts deposited in these funds
from other sources permitted by this article shall be expended in the
respective regions based on particular needs to be determined by the
authority.
(g) (1) After a regional jail facility
becomes available pursuant to this article for the incarceration of inmates,
each county within the region shall incarcerate all persons whom the county
would have incarcerated in any jail prior to the availability of the regional
jail facility in the regional jail facility except those whose incarceration in
a local jail facility used as a local holding facility is specified as
appropriate under the standards and procedures developed pursuant to section
nine of this article and who the sheriff or the circuit court elects to
incarcerate therein.
(2) Notwithstanding the provisions of
subdivision (1) of this subsection, circuit and magistrate courts are
authorized to:
(A) Detain persons who have been arrested
or charged with a crime, in a county or municipal jail, specified as
appropriate under the standards and procedures developed pursuant to section
nine of this article, for a period not to exceed ninety‑six hours; or
(B) Commit persons convicted of a crime in
a county or municipal jail, specified as appropriate under the standards and
procedures developed pursuant to section nine of this article, for a period not
to exceed fourteen days.
(h) When inmates are placed in a
regional jail facility pursuant to subsection (g) of this section, the county
shall pay into the Regional Jail and Correctional Facility Authority Fund a
cost per day for each incarcerated inmate to be determined by the Regional Jail
and Correctional Facility Authority according to criteria and by procedures
established by legislative rules proposed for promulgation pursuant to article
three, chapter twenty‑nine‑a of this code and as established in
section ten‑a of this article to cover the costs of operating the
regional jail facilities of this state to maintain each inmate. The
Regional Jail and Correctional Facility Authority shall determine a per day
cost for each incarcerated inmate, according to procedures established by
legislative rules pursuant to article three, chapter twenty‑nine‑a
of this code, and as established in section ten‑a of this article, to
cover the costs of operating the regional jail facilities of this state to
maintain each inmate. Such cost shall be paid in the following manner: Fifty
percent shall be paid by the state, forty‑five percent shall be paid by
the county where the inmate allegedly committed the criminal act, and five
percent by the municipality, if applicable, where the inmate allegedly
committed the criminal act. In the event the alleged criminal act occurred
outside of a municipality, the county where the inmate allegedly committed the
criminal act shall pay fifty percent of the cost of incarceration. If an
inmate is incarcerated for more than one alleged criminal act, then the
applicable ratio for payment shall be determined regarding the alleged criminal
act which occurred first in time. The per diem costs for incarcerating
inmates may not include the cost of construction, acquisition or renovation of
the regional jail facilities. Provided, That Each
regional jail facility operating in this state shall keep a record of the date
and time that an inmate is incarcerated and a county may not be charged for a
second day of incarceration for an individual inmate until that inmate has
remained incarcerated for more than twenty‑four hours. After that, in
cases of continuous incarceration, subsequent per diem charges shall be made
upon a county only as subsequent intervals of twenty‑four hours pass from
the original time of incarceration. However, the per diem charge for an
inmate who is incarcerated for less than twenty‑four hours shall be one‑half
the normal per diem rate charged.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to relieve the burden imposed
on counties of incarcerating inmates in regional jails by changing the way that
the cost of incarcerating inmates in regional jails is collected so that it is
shared by the county, state and municipality where the alleged criminal act
occurred; and making the cost of incarcerating a person for less than twenty‑four
hours one‑half the amount charged for incarcerating an inmate for a full
day.
Strike‑throughs indicate language that would be stricken
from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would be
added.
West
Virginia Legislature