CHAPTER 193
FORMERLY
SENATE BILL NO. 392
AN ACT TO AMEND CHAPTER 65, PART IV, SUBCHAPTER VI, TITLE 11 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO CLASSIFICATION OF INMATES.
WHEREAS, the United States District Court for the District of Delaware concluded in Anderson v. Redman, Civil Action 76-364 that Sections 6530 and 6531 of Title 11 of the Delaware Code mandated
that the Department of Correction maintain a system of classification of inmates whereby inmates are housed according to various classifications assigned to them; and
WHEREAS, the United States District Court for the District of Delaware also concluded in the same action that such a mandatory system of housing classification thereby required the Department to maintain an overall vacancy of at least eight percent below the design capacity of the Delaware Correctional Center in the portions of the Center used to house convicted persons; and
WHEREAS, the United States District Court based these conclusions on the laws of the State of Delaware; and
WHEREAS, it was not the purpose of sections 6530 and 6531 to require a classification system whereby inmates are housed according to design capacity to the various classifications assigned them, nor was it the intent of the General Assembly in enacting such sections or any other sections of the Delaware Code to require the maintenance
of the inmate population below the design capacity of any correctional facility.
NOW, THEREFORE:
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF DELAWARE:
Section 1. Amend §6529(b), Chapter 65, Part IV, Title 11 of the Delaware Code by striking the words "(e.g. determining maximum and minimum security)."
Section 2. Further amend Section 6529, Chapter 65, Part IV,
Title 11 of the Delaware Code, by adding thereto three new subsections, designated as 46529 (e), (f) and (g), which new subsections shall read as follows:
"(e) Nothing in this Chapter shall be construed to require the Department to institute or maintain any system of classification of convicted persons for the purpose of assignment to institutions
or housing units within institutions. However, the Department may, at its discretion, institute or maintain any such system at any or all of its institutions.
(f) Nothing in this Chapter shall be construed to require the Department to reduce the inmate population of any of its institutions below the capacity for which that institution was designed in order to accommodate any system of classification of convicted persons for purposes of assignment to institutions or housing units within an institution which the Department institutes or maintains.
(g) Nothing in this Chapter requiring or permitting the Department to institute or maintain a program or programs for the custody, rehabilitation or care of persons coming under the jurisdiction of the Department, including but not limited to such programs as may be required or permitted by Sections 6530 and 6531 of this Title, shall be construed to require the Department to reduce the inmate population at any of its institutions below the capacity for which that institution was designed."
Approved October 15, 1977.