CHAPTER 396
FORMERLY
SENATE SUBSTITUTE NO. 1
TO
SENATE BILL NO. 102
AS AMENDED BY SENATE AMENDMENT NO. 1
AN ACT TO AMEND DELAWARE CODE, TITLE 11, CHAPTER 65 RELATING TO CORRECTIONS.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF DELAWARE:
Section 1. Amend Delaware Code, Title 11, Chapter 65, Subchapter VI, by deleting 0532 and inserting in lieu thereof a new §6532 to read as follows:
"§6532 Work by Inmates.
(a) The Department may establish compulsory programs of employment, work experience and training for all physically-able inmates. To the maximum extent practical, these
programs shall approximate normal conditions of employment in free agriculture, industry and business, with respect to equipment, management practices and general procedures.
(b) The products of inmate labor and services may be sold and marketed to tax-supported departments and institutions and agencies of the State and its governmental subdivisions and such other employers or entities within or outside of the State of Delaware, as the Department shall determine. The Department may make contractual arrangements for the use of inmate labor by other tax-supported units of government responsible for the conservation of natural resources or other public works. The Department may also assign inmates to community work projects including, but not limited to, litter control along State highways and on State beaches and trash removal from State facilities, as provided in subsection (c) below.
(c) Before entering into an agreement with any other state department seeking prisoner-workers in accordance with this section, the Department shall have established a pilot litter-control program in each of the 3 counties with the cooperation of the Department of Transportation. The Department of Transportation shall advise the Department as to the kinds of equipment and the costs thereof that will be required and will act at all times as the consultant to the Department in this program.
(d) Inmates shall be compensated, at rates fixed by the Department, for labor performed, including institutional maintenance.
(e) In the event that an inmate shall labor for more than B hours in 1 day or 40 hours in 1 week, said inmate shall be compensated at 1 and 1/2 times the regular hourly rates paid to said inmates for such work time he/she has labored in excess of 8 hours in 1 day or 40 hours In 1 week.
(f) The Department shall cause to be placed into an account, payable to each Inmate upon his/her discharge, income from the inmate's employment and any other income or benefits, accruing to or payable to, and for the benefit of said inmate, including but not limited to any worker's compensation or Social Security benefits. From the account of each inmate, the Department shall deduct, in order of the priority set forth herein, the following sums:
(1) Support payments for dependents of the inmate who are receiving public assistance during the period of incarceration, or to whom the inmate is under a Court ordered obligation to provide support and restitution as may have been assessed against said inmate pursuant to Court Order;
(2) Court costs, fines, and such other items as may be assessed against said inmate pursuant to Court Order; and
(3) A proportionate share of the costs of incarceration of inmates in the facility in which said inmate is housed including but not limited to room, board, medical care, legal services, prison education, training, library services, counseling and treatment services, religious services and other programs and services as shall be provided together with an allocation of the overhead for operating such prison and the Department in accordance with a fee-Schedule to be established by the Department.
(g) In assigning inmates to employment, work experience, training and community work project programs in accordance with this section:
(1) Assignments to programs conducted or operated outside the physical boundaries of Department-run correctional facilities shall not be available to inmates serving time for any crime classified as a class A felony, or any crime classified as a class B felony which involves a sex offense, escape or assault.
(2) The Department is authorized to establish regulations or guidelines further restricting the participation of inmates in such programs so as to minimize potential danger to the community.
(h) The Department is authorized to revoke previously earned good time (whether such good time was earned pursuant to this section or other provisions of this title) from inmates who refuse to perform labor as required by the Department pursuant to this section. In addition, the Department may impose such other lawful disciplinary measures as it deems appropriate upon inmates refusing to perform labor as required by the Department pursuant to this section.
(i) No greater amount of Tabor shall be required of any inmate than his/her physical health and strength will reasonably permit, nor shall any inmate be placed at such labor as the institutional physician determines to be beyond his/her ability to perform.
(j) Inmates refusing to participate in compulsory programs of employment established by the Department pursuant to this program shall not be eligible for parole nor shall the Department apply for modification of sentence, and shall further be subject to such other disciplinary measures as the Commissioner may establish by regulation."
Section 2. Amend Delaware Code, Title 11, Chapter 65, Subchapter VI, by adding a new §6534A to read as follows:
16534A Claims for Costs of Support; Lien
Upon the sentencing of any convicted criminal to incarceration in any state correctional facility, the attorney general may file a claim for future maintenance and support of such inmate with the court from which said inmate was sentenced, and thereupon the court may make an order making such inmate's estate or property liable for the expenses of such future care and support by the Department as is more fully provided in §6532(f), and such claim, upon approval by the Court shall constitute a lien upon all property, real and personal, of said prisoner."
Section 3. Amend Delaware Code, Title 11, Chapter 65, Subchapter VI, §6533 by adding a new subsection (e) to read as follows:
"(e) All wages, salary, or other compensation earned by or payable to an inmate employed in accordance with this section shall be placed in said Inmate's account and subject to deductions in accordance with the provisions of §6532(f)."
Section 4. Amend Delaware Code, Title 11, Chapter 65, Subchapter VI, §6534 by deleting said section in its entirety and inserting in lieu thereof a new §6534 to read as follows:
"The balance remaining in an inmate's account established and maintained in accordance with §6532(f) shall be paid to him/her at the time of his/her release, except that the Department may from time to time, in its discretion, or upon order from a court of competent jurisdiction, pay all or part thereof to the inmate as spending money. The Department shall establish guidelines and procedures for payments to inmates in accordance with this section."
Section 5. Amend Delaware Code, Title 11, Chapter 65, Subchapter VI by adding a new §6531A to read as follows:
"§6531A Education Programs.
(a) The Department shall establish programs of education for inmates including but not limited to courses toward a G.E.D. and courses of vocational training. In establishing such programs, the Department shall also establish rules and regulations regarding the order in which inmates shall be eligible to enroll in such courses. In such regulations, priority shall be given to inmates who have not previously earned a high school diploma or G.E.D., and priority shall also be correlated to inmates' projected release dates.
(b) When the Department shall make G.E.D. courses available to inmates at a correctional facility, inmates at such facility who are eligible in accordance with the rules and regulations of the Department established under subsection (a) above, shall be required to enroll in and attend such courses.
(c) The costs of providing such G.E.D. courses established pursuant to subsections (a) and (b) above shall in accordance with a schedule to be established by the Department be assessed against those inmates required under subsection (b) to be enrolled, and may be deducted from said inmate's account in accordance with the provisions of §6532(f).
(d) Inmates required to participate in compulsory programs of education established by the Department pursuant to this section shall not be eligible for parole nor shall the Department apply for modification of sentence until successfully obtaining a G.E.D. Inmates refusing to participate in such programs shall further be subject to such other disciplinary measures as the Commissioner shall establish by regulation.
Section 6. Amend Delaware Code, Title 11, Chapter 65, Subchapter VI, §6533A by adding a new subsection (d) to read as follows:
"(d) Inmates pursuing a G.E.D. under the provisions of this section pursuant to the requirement of §6531(c), shall in accordance with a schedule to be established by the Department be assessed for the costs of courses made available under this section, including the costs of transportation and security, and such costs may be deducted from said inmate's account in accordance with the provisions of §6532(f).
Section 7. Amend Delaware Code, Title 11, Chapter 65, Subchapter VI by deleting §6531 in its entirety and substituting in lieu thereof a new §6531 to read as follows:
§6531 Treatment and Rehabilitation Programs.
(a) Persons committed to the institutional care of the department shall be dealt with humanely, with effort directed to their rehabilitation.
(b) The Department shall establish alcohol and drug counseling and treatment programs for inmates. The Department may further establish a program of mandatory drug testing for inmates. In establishing such programs, the Department shall also establish rules and regulations regarding the order in which inmates shall be eligible to participate in such courses. Such regulations shall accord priority to inmates testing positive for illegal drugs, and inmates serving sentences imposed for drug related offenses.
(c) When the Department shall make programs of counseling and treatment available to inmates at a correctional facility, inmates at such facility who are eligible in accordance with the rules and regulations of the Department established under subsection (b) above, shall be required to enroll in and participate in such programs.
(d) The costs of providing such counseling and treatment programs established pursuant to subsections (b) and (c) above shall in accordance with a schedule to be established by the Department be assessed against those inmates required under subsection (c) to be enrolled, and may be deducted from said inmate's account In accordance with the provisions of §6532(f).
(e) Inmates required to participate in compulsory programs of drug or alcohol counseling or treatment established by the Department pursuant to this section shall not be eligible for parole nor shall the Department apply for modification of sentence until successfully completing such programs. Inmates refusing to participate in such programs shall further be subject to such other disciplinary measures as the Commissioner shall establish by regulation.
(f) The Department shall establish programs of work, case work counseling and psychotherapy, library and religious services and commissary, and shall further establish procedures for the classification of inmates for those purposes."
Section 8. Amend Del. Code, Title 11, Chapter 65, Subchapter VI, by adding a new Section 6534B to read as follows:
"Section 6534B. Prison Industries & Services Special Fund.
(a) There is hereby established a Prison Industries & Services Special Fund which shall consist of:
(1) Monies received from the sale of products as described in Section 6532 of this chapter;
(2) Monies received through the contract of service or labor as described in Section 6532 of this chapter;
(3) Monies received per Section 6532 (f) (3) of this chapter;
(4) Monies received per Section 6531A (c) of this chapter; and,
(5) Monies received per Section 6531 (d) of this chapter.
(b) Funds from the Industries & Services Special Fund shall be expended only for the following purposes:
(1) Financing the Prison Industries Programs, including but not limited to, all prison manufacturing, construction, contractual services, and labor provided;
(2) Financing the Educational programs required by Section 6531A of this chapter;
(3) Financing the Treatment/Rehabilitation programs required by Section 6531 of this chapter; and,
(4) Financing any and all programs as itemized in Section 6532 (f) (3) of this chapter.
(c) The Prison Industries & Services Special Fund shall be appropriated and expended in conformity with the annual Appropriations Act of the State of Delaware.
(d) Nothing in this Act shall preclude the appropriation of General Funds to support the programs itemized in subsection (b) of this section."
Section 9. The provisions of the Bill are severable. The invalidity or unenforceability of any section, subsection, paragraph, sentence, clause, phrase or word shall not affect the validity or enforceability of the remaining sections, subsections, paragraphs, sentences, clauses, phrases or words.
Approved July 18, 1990.