SB227 By Senator Albritton RFD Finance and Taxation General Fund Rd 1 25-FEB-20

SYNOPSIS: Under existing law, when a defendant is sentenced to the Department of Corrections, the court is required to notify the department.

This bill would require that the court or the court clerk send an electronic notification to the Department of Corrections, through the State Judicial Information System, when a defendant is sentenced to the department.

This bill would establish the Inmate Housing Cooperative and would provide for its implementation.

This bill would establish procedures for participation in the Inmate Housing Cooperative.

This bill would specify which state inmates may be housed in a county jail pursuant to the Inmate Housing Cooperative.

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED AN ACT

Relating to county jails; to amend Section 14-3-30, Code of Alabama 1975, to require the court or court clerk to provide electronic notification to the Department of Corrections when a defendant is sentenced to the department; to provide for transportation of inmates from the county jails to the department; to provide that counties are not responsible for health care costs of inmates who have been sentenced to the department; to add a new Chapter 16 to Title 14 to the Code of Alabama 1975, to establish the Inmate Housing Cooperative; to establish procedures for participation in the Inmate Housing Cooperative; and to provide for the implementation of the Inmate Housing Cooperative.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF ALABAMA:Section 1. Section 14-3-30, Code of Alabama 1975, is amended to read as follows:

§14-3-30.

"(a) When any convict is sentenced to the penitentiary, the judge of the court in which the sentence is rendered shall order the inmate to be confined in the nearest secure jail. The clerk of the court shall at once notify the Department of Corrections as to the jail where the inmate is confined, forward to the department a copy of the judgment entry and sentence in the case, and inform the department if any special care is necessary to guard the inmate. Thereupon, the department shall direct where the inmate shall be taken for confinement or hard labor The court shall enter the order into the State Judicial Information System, or its successor system, which shall be electronically transmitted by the Administrative Office of Courts to the criminal justice information systems under the authority of the Alabama Justice Information Commission, or in the alternative, the court shall ensure that the court clerk receives the order within five business days of entering the judgment. The clerk shall ensure electronic entry of sentence within five business days of receipt of the court's order.

"(b) On or before the fifth business day after the date of electronic entry of sentence, the Department of Corrections shall communicate with the county to arrange transfer of custody of an inmate confined in a county jail pursuant to this section. Transfer of custody shall occur at the county jail. The department shall be responsible for transporting the inmate from the county jail to the prison. Transfer and transportation shall occur on or before the 15th calendar day after the date of electronic entry of sentence, unless the county participates in the Inmate Housing Cooperative as provided in Chapter 16 of Title 14, or the sheriff, with the consent of the county commission, agrees to a delay of transfer.

"(1) (b) When an inmate sentenced to the custody of the department, and the department is in receipt of a transcript of such has received an electronic notification of the sentence, and the inmate is being housed in a county jail, and if the inmate has a health condition or develops a medical condition which that requires immediate treatment, at a medical-care facility outside the county jail or inside the county jail, the department shall be financially responsible for the actual cost of the treatment of the inmate. The department and the counties shall receive any contractual discounts the medical-care facility has agreed to grant for the treatment of inmates housed in state correctional facilities. The county is not financially responsible for the health care costs of any state inmate regardless whether provided on site or off site.

"(2) When an inmate sentenced to the custody of the department, and the department is in receipt of a transcript of such has received an electronic notification of the sentence, is housed in a county jail, and the inmate has a health condition or develops a medical health condition or has been is diagnosed as having a medical health condition which that, in the opinion of a physician licensed in Alabama, would require treatment or a medical procedure or both, likely involving a cost of more than two thousand dollars ($2,000), the department shall transport the inmate shall be transferred within three calendar days of notification, to a state owned or operated correctional facility or to the physical custody of the department as determined by the Commissioner of the Department of Corrections. The inmate shall receive treatment in the same manner as other state inmates. If the department fails to take custody of the inmate, the county may transport the inmate to receive the recommended treatment, medical procedure, or both. The county is not financially responsible for the health care costs of any state inmate whether provided on site or off site.

"(3) Nothing in this subsection shall section may be interpreted to relieve the department of its responsibility for the maintenance and upkeep, including the payment of medical health care costs, of an inmate sentenced to the custody of the department, nor shall this subsection section be interpreted as conferring any additional responsibility upon a county for the maintenance and upkeep, or the payment of medical health care costs, of any inmate sentenced to the custody of the department or under the supervision of the Board of Pardons and Paroles."

Section 2. Chapter 16, commencing with Section 14-16-1, is added to Title 14, Code of Alabama 1975, to read as follows:

§14-16-1.

This chapter shall be known and may be cited as the Inmate Housing Cooperative.

§14-16-2.

For the purposes of this chapter, the following words shall have the following meanings:

(1) BED SPACE. The total number of beds available for use by inmates in a jail.

(2) DEPARTMENT. The Alabama Department of Corrections.

(3) ESCAPE. As provided in Sections 13A-10-31 through 13A-10-33, inclusive.

(4) INMATE HOUSING COOPERATIVE. A voluntary program created to facilitate temporary confinement of certain state inmates in county jails, without being a long-term state inmate population reduction solution, pursuant to a uniform memorandum of agreement for use of available bed space.

(5) VIOLENT OFFENDER. As provided in Section 12-25-32.

§14-16-3.

A county commission, with the consent of the sheriff, may by resolution and in cooperation with the department, participate in the Inmate Housing Cooperative by entering into a uniform memorandum of agreement to provide temporary confinement of state inmates in the county jail.

§14-16-4.

(a) On or before August 1, 2020, the department, the Alabama Sheriffs Association, and the Association of County Commissions of Alabama shall cooperate to produce an agreed upon two-year uniform memorandum of agreement, which shall contain, among other terms, all of the following terms consistent with this chapter:

(1) Uniform payment terms and conditions.

(2) Provisions contemplating segregation of inmates by classification.

(3) The provision of state correctional officers to county jails, as necessary, at no cost to the county.

(b) The department may not enter into any alternative contractual or other agreement with an individual county for the temporary confinement of state inmates, regardless of whether the individual county participates in the Inmate Housing Cooperative.

(c) Nothing in this section shall be interpreted to prohibit a delay of transfer of an individual inmate pursuant to Section 14-3-30.

§14-16-5.

If a county commission, with the consent of the sheriff, elects to participate in the Inmate Housing Cooperative, it shall inform the department, and the department shall perform a physical inspection of the jail, which shall include the department's independent verification of bed space, taking all relevant factors into consideration. The department shall approve or disapprove the county's participation.

§14-16-6.

(a) Before the execution of a uniform memorandum of agreement, a jail's available bed space shall be determined pursuant to a uniform calculation intended to provide reasonable assurance that no county agrees to temporarily house a population of state inmates that would cause the jail to exceed its bed space.

(b) Bed space available to the department shall be calculated by the sheriff and reported to the county commission.

(c) The uniform calculation to be used by the sheriff is the number that represents the jail's bed space, which shall be subtracted from the number that represents the bed space that was required for housing inmates during the month that the jail housed a peak population in the preceding 12-month period.

(d) The department may not enter into a uniform memorandum of agreement with a county that could cause total occupied bed space to reach or exceed 90 percent during the month that the jail housed a peak population in the preceding 12-month period.

§14-16-7.

A state inmate may be housed in a county jail pursuant to an Inmate Housing Cooperative agreement for a maximum of 90 days, which shall not be tolled by time served pursuant to Section 14-3-30. The department shall remove the inmate to state custody on or before the 90th day after electronic entry of sentence. No inmate shall be removed from one jail and housed in another jail after the expiration of one 90-day period for the same sentence. If the department fails to transfer an inmate to state custody, the rate of daily care shall automatically increase to the average cost of daily care of inmates in state custody, as provided by Section 14-16-10.

§14-16-8.

The department shall be solely responsible for initiation of an inmate's transfer of custody and for transportation from the jail on or before the 90th day after electronic entry of sentence.

§14-16-9.

No inmate found guilty of a violent offense, a Class A felony pursuant to Title 13A, or escape shall be eligible for confinement in a county jail pursuant to the Inmate Housing Cooperative. Nothing in this chapter shall be interpreted to prohibit immediate confinement of a violent offender or an inmate convicted of a Class A felony pursuant to Title 13A.

§14-16-10.

(a) Effective October 1, 2020, at the conclusion of each fiscal year, the average daily cost of care of inmates in state custody shall be calculated by the department, and the newly calculated rate shall be published in the department's annual report and on the department's website on or before November 15. The newly calculated rate shall take effect each January 1.

(b) The department shall ensure payment to the county of the agreed upon housing rate, which shall be included in the uniform memorandum of agreement and may not be less than 50 percent of the average daily cost of care of inmates in state custody, and shall be paid in full within 45 days of invoice. In addition, the department is financially responsible for all health care costs as provided by Section 14-3-30.

(c) The county is not financially responsible for the health care costs of any state inmate, regardless whether provided on site or off site, as provided by Section 14-3-30.

(d) The department shall ensure payment to the county for increased costs of liability insurance premiums that can be attributed to an increased population of state inmates being temporarily housed in county jails.

(e) If the department fails to pay a county invoice on or before the 46th day after the date of an invoice, the county may immediately transport all inmates housed pursuant to the Inmate Housing Cooperative to the prison to which the inmates are sentenced.

(f) A county commission may apportion to the sheriff a reasonable administrative and operating fee in proportion to the number of state inmates housed as provided by the uniform bed space memorandum of agreement.

Section 3. This act shall become effective immediately following its passage and approval by the Governor, or its otherwise becoming law.

Jails

Corrections Department

County Commissions

Health Care

Popular Names

Code Added

Code Amended