Bill Text: WV HB4108 | 2022 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Provide wardens with ability to use inmates to perform work in the upkeep local cemeteries
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 9-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2022-01-17 - To House Select Committee on Jails and Prisons [HB4108 Detail]
Download: West_Virginia-2022-HB4108-Introduced.html
WEST VIRGINIA LEGISLATURE
2022 REGULAR SESSION
Introduced
House Bill 4108
By Delegates Toney, Rowan, Paynter, Dean, Ferrell, Conley, Cooper, and Ellington
[Introduced January 17, 2022; Referred to the Committee on Select Committee on Jails and Prisons then the Judiciary]
A BILL to amend and reenact §15A-4-20 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, relating to allowing inmates to perform the community service of providing upkeep to cemeteries.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
ARTICLE 4. CORRECTIONS MANAGEMENT.
§15A-4-20. Work program.
(a) The commissioner is authorized to establish at each institution a work program for qualified inmates. The commissioner shall establish guidelines and qualifications to allow inmates sentenced to a regional jail facility to be gainfully employed with local businesses and governmental entities as part of a job program. A qualified inmate does not include an inmate convicted of a sexual offense or a violent felony.
(b) An inmate who works in work programs established under this section may be required to make reimbursement to the division toward the cost of his or her incarceration to be credited to the agency billed for that incarceration, pursuant to the conditions set forth in §15A-4-19 of this code.
(c) The commissioner may require qualified inmates to provide for the upkeep of cemeteries in the political subdivision where the regional jail facility is located. If the cemetery is located on public property, the commissioner shall have the request and approval of the political subdivision. If the cemetery is located on private property, the commissioner shall obtain express consent of the landowner prior to entry to perform such work. The landowner is immune from liability if a loss or claim results from an inmate's performance of work related to the upkeep of a cemetery in accordance with this section.
(c) (d)
Notwithstanding any provision of this code to the contrary, the county
commission, its members and agents, the Division of Corrections and
Rehabilitation or designee, its employees, agents, or assigns, the Regional
Jail and Correctional Facility Authority Board, its members, agents, or
assigns, the sheriff, and his or her deputies, shall be immune from all
liability of any kind except for accident, injury, or death resulting directly
from gross negligence or malfeasance.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to authorize use of inmates to perform work in the upkeep of local cemeteries.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from a heading or the present law and underscoring indicates new language that would be added.
