WEST VIRGINIA LEGISLATURE
2025 REGULAR SESSION
FISCAL NOTE
FISCAL NOTE
Introduced
Senate Bill 880
By Senator Maynard
[Introduced March 21, 2025; referred to the Committee on the Judiciary; and then to the Committee on Finance]
A BILL to amend and reenact §15A-3-12 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended; and to amend the code by adding a new section, designated §15A-3-4a, relating to the Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation; creating powers and duties of the commissioner regarding Stevens Correctional Center; clarifying the ownership of Stevens Correctional Center; clarifying all debts owed by the County of McDowell have been paid; and clarifying institutions managed by the commissioner.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
CHAPTER 15A. DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY.
ARTICLE 3. DIVISION OF CORRECTIONS AND REHABILITATION.
(a) In compliance with the powers and duties of the commissioner in §15A-3-4 of this code, the commissioner shall manage, direct, control, and govern Stevens Correctional Center in McDowell County consistent with any other juvenile or adult facility since Stevens Correctional Center in McDowell County has been transferred to the commissioner and is no longer contracted with the county commission of McDowell County to house and incarcerate inmates.
(1) Under prior actions, all of the facilities, equipment, and assets, associated with and on the property known as Stevens Correctional Center have been acquired and ownership assumed by the State of West Virginia through the Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
(2) All debt liability related to the operation of the Stevens Correctional Center in its capacity and previous agreements related to the West Virginia Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation currently owed by the County of McDowell have been paid and acquired by the West Virginia Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation and the State, or both.
(3) All county employees of the Stevens Correctional Center shall be transferred to the West Virginia Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation in the state classified service system, subject to a one year probationary period, and shall carry over all rank and accrued annual and sick leave balances.
(a) The commissioner shall manage, direct, control, and govern the prisons, jails, or correctional institutions of this state, and the juvenile facilities of this state, including, but not limited to:
Mount Olive Correctional Complex and Jail;
Huttonsville Correctional Center and Jail;
Anthony Correctional Center and Jail;
Denmar Correctional Center and Jail;
Pruntytown Correctional Center and Jail;
Northern Regional Jail and Correctional Center;
Saint Marys Correctional Center and Jail;
Lakin Correctional Center and Jail;
Ohio County Correctional Center and Jail;
Beckley Correctional Center and Jail;
Martinsburg Correctional Center and Jail;
Salem Correctional Center and Jail;
Stevens Correctional Center;
Parkersburg Correctional Center and Jail;
Charleston Correctional Center and Jail;
Central Regional Jail and Corrections Facility;
Eastern Regional Jail and Corrections Facility;
North Central Regional Jail and Corrections Facility;
Potomac Highlands Regional Jail and Corrections Facility;
South Central Regional Jail and Corrections Facility;
Southern Regional Jail and Corrections Facility;
Southwestern Regional Jail and Corrections Facility;
Tygart Valley Regional Jail and Corrections Facility;
Western Regional Jail and Corrections Facility;
Donald R. Kuhn Juvenile Center;
Gene Spadaro Juvenile Center;
J.M. Chick Buckbee Juvenile Center;
Kenneth "Honey" Rubenstein Juvenile Center;
Lorrie Yeager Juvenile Center;
Robert L. Shell Juvenile Center;
Sam Perdue Juvenile Center;
Tiger Morton Juvenile Center;
Vicki Douglas Juvenile Center; and
Any other juvenile or adult facility later transferred to the commissioner.
(b) The commissioner may contract with the county commission of McDowell County to house and incarcerate inmates at the Stevens Correctional Center consistent with all requirements and standards governing the division.
(c) (b) The commissioner may contract with Youth Services System to house and detain juveniles at the Ronald Mulholland Juvenile Center consistent with all the requirements and standards governing the division.
(d) (c) The commissioner may establish work and study release units as extensions and subsidiaries of those state institutions under his or her control and authority. The work and study release units may be coeducational and shall be managed, directed, and controlled as provided in this article.
(e) (d) The commissioner may contract with nonprofit or charitable entities including, but not limited to, nonprofit community mental health clinics, operating half-way houses, or transitional housing facilities for the placement of persons in the commissioner’s custody, whether confined or under parole supervision, as long as the facilities meet standards and criteria established by the commissioner.
(1) The commissioner may direct that a person who is placed in a half-way house or transitional housing facility under this section make reimbursement to the state in the amount of a reasonable sum calculated to offset all or part of the costs of the placement. Prior to ordering the person to make the reimbursement, the commissioner, or his or her designee, shall consider the following:
(A) The person’s ability to pay;
(B) The nature and extent of the person’s responsibilities to his or her dependents, if any;
(C) The length of probable incarceration under the court’s sentence; and
(D) The effect, if any, that reimbursement might have on the person’s rehabilitation.
(2) The division shall provide the number of persons placed in a half-way house or a transitional housing facility as authorized in this section in its report made pursuant to §5-1-20 of this code, and shall describe its plans to use the authority provided under the provisions of §15A-3-12(g) of this code in furtherance of the duties and responsibilities imposed by this article.
(f) (e) All adult persons sentenced by a court to serve a sentence of incarceration in a prison, jail, or correctional institution under the jurisdiction of the commissioner shall be deemed to be sentenced to the custody of the commissioner. The commissioner, or his or her designee, has the authority to and may order the transfer of any adult to any appropriate institution within the division.
(g) (f) The commissioner has full discretionary authority to contract with any county jail, or other appropriate facility or institution for the incarceration and care of adult inmates. If a felony sentenced inmate is held in a jail facility or unit, under the jurisdiction of the commissioner, the commissioner shall pay a per diem rate, not subject to the limitations set forth in §15A-3-16(g) of this code.
(h) (g) The commissioner, or his or her designee, may transfer any adult prisoner or inmate who is mentally disturbed and who would more appropriately be treated in an institution under the jurisdiction of the Bureau of Health, to the Bureau, subject to the approval of the Director of Health, and may transfer any adult prisoner or inmate to an appropriate mental facility for specialized medical treatment.
(i) (h) The commissioner shall, no later than July 1, 2019, complete an evaluation of all facilities within his or her control for the most appropriate space to house each type of inmate, and shall consult with the Juvenile Justice Commission on any and all intended uses of current or prospective juvenile facilities. This evaluation shall include an assessment of the physical plant of each institution, the inmate population size and type, and classification of inmates. Following completion of the evaluation, the commissioner shall develop a plan on how to best utilize the institutional space, and shall report to the Joint Committee on Government and Finance with recommendations regarding implementation of that plan. The commissioner may, from time to time, and as circumstances dictate, reorganize the facilities, and units within the facilities, to house pretrial inmates, convicted misdemeanants, and convicted felons in the most appropriate manner. No facility shall be converted from a juvenile to an adult facility, or from an adult to a juvenile facility, without legislative authorization.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to articulate and codify the powers and duties of the Commissioner generally regarding Stevens Correctional Center.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from a heading or the present law and underscoring indicates new language that would be added.