CHAPTER 377
FORMERLY
HOUSE BILL NO. 946
AN ACT TO AMEND CHAPTER 65, TITLE 11 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO WORK BY INMATES.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF DELAWARE:
Section I. Amend Section 6532 of Chapter 65, Title 11, of the Delaware Code by striking subsection (b) in its entirety and in lieu thereof provide the following:
"(b) inmates may be compensated, at rates fixed by the Department, for labor performed, including institutional maintenance. If adequate for such purpose, the inmate should be encouraged, and when approved by the Commissioner, required to support his dependents who may be receiving public assistance during the period of commitment."
Section 2. Amend Section 6532 of Chapter 65, Title 11, of the Delaware Code by adding thereto the following:
"(f) The Department may institute a program requiring physically able inmates to labor without compensation. In the event that inmates shall labor for more than eight hours in one day or forty hours in one week, said inmate shall receive credit for overtime for the time he has labored in excess of eight hours In one day or forty hours in one week. The Department may promulgate regulhtions regulating the use of overtime and the award of overtime credits to inmates. The Department need not give credit for overtime less than one hour or for fractions of an hour in excess of one hour.
(g) Inmates shall receive a reduction of sentence at the rate of two hours for every hour of overtime credited. Nothing in this section shall be construed to permit the reduction of the sentence of persons serving minimum mandatory sentences or sentences without eligibility for parole,
(a) 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 of 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.
(b) No greater amount of labor shall he required of any inmate than his physical health and strength will reasonably permit, nor shall any inmate he placed at such labor as the institutional physician determines to he beyond his ability to perform. Persons not serving a sentence for conviction of a crime shall not be required to perform labor without compensation.
Approved July 10, 1980