H-1568

AN ACT Relating to earned early release time; and amending RCW 9.94A.150, 9.95.070, and 72.09.130.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

Sec. 1. RCW 9.94A.150 and 1990 c 3 s 202 are each amended to read as follows:

No person serving a sentence imposed pursuant to this chapter and committed to the custody of the department shall leave the confines of the correctional facility or be released prior to the expiration of the sentence except as follows:

(1) Except as otherwise provided for in subsections (2) and (9) of this section, the term of the sentence of an offender committed to a correctional facility operated by the department, may be reduced by earned early release time in accordance with procedures that shall be developed and promulgated by the correctional agency having jurisdiction in which the offender is confined. The earned early release time shall be for good behavior and good performance, as determined by the correctional agency having jurisdiction. The correctional agency shall not credit the offender with earned early release credits in advance of the offender actually earning the credits. Any program established pursuant to this section shall allow an offender to earn early release credits for presentence incarceration. If an offender is transferred from a county jail to the department of corrections, the county jail facility shall certify to the department the amount of time spent in custody at the facility and the amount of earned early release time. In the case of an offender convicted of a serious violent offense or a sex offense that is a class A felony committed on or after July 1, 1990, the aggregate earned early release time may not exceed fifteen percent of the sentence. In no other case shall the aggregate earned early release time exceed one-third of the total sentence;

(2) A person convicted of a sex offense or an offense categorized as a serious violent offense, assault in the second degree, any crime against a person where it is determined in accordance with RCW 9.94A.125 that the defendant or an accomplice was armed with a deadly weapon at the time of commission, or any felony offense under chapter 69.50 or 69.52 RCW may become eligible, in accordance with a program developed by the department, for transfer to community custody status in lieu of earned early release time pursuant to subsection (1) of this section;

(3) An offender may leave a correctional facility pursuant to an authorized furlough or leave of absence. In addition, offenders may leave a correctional facility when in the custody of a corrections officer or officers;

(4) The governor, upon recommendation from the clemency and pardons board, may grant an extraordinary release for reasons of serious health problems, senility, advanced age, extraordinary meritorious acts, or other extraordinary circumstances;

(5) No more than the final six months of the sentence may be served in partial confinement designed to aid the offender in finding work and reestablishing him or herself in the community;

(6) The governor may pardon any offender;

(7) The department of corrections may release an offender from confinement any time within ten days before a release date calculated under this section; ((~~and~~))

(8) An offender may leave a correctional facility prior to completion of his or her sentence if the sentence has been reduced as provided in RCW 9.94A.160; and

(9)(a) Every person sentenced to a total of more than thirty months of total confinement in a correctional institution under the jurisdiction of the department of corrections must satisfactorily complete a high school education or achieve an equivalent score on the general educational development test before any earned early release time may be used to reduce the person's term of total confinement.

(b)(i) This subsection does not apply to any person determined by the director of education programs within the department of corrections to be incapable of completing the educational program. A person may be determined to be incapable due to one of the following reasons only:

(A) The person has a chronic mental deficiency;

(B) The person is considered mentally retarded;

(D) A serious physical or mental illness makes completion of the educational program impossible.

(ii) This subsection (9)(b) may not be used to control inmate population levels.

(c) Failure to complete the requirements of this subsection (9) may not be used as the basis for extending a person's original term of confinement.

Sec. 2. RCW 9.95.070 and 1955 c 133 s 8 are each amended to read as follows:

(1) Except as provided in subsection (2) of this section, every prisoner who has a favorable record of conduct at the penitentiary or the reformatory, and who performs in a faithful, diligent, industrious, orderly and peaceable manner the work, duties, and tasks assigned to him or her to the satisfaction of the superintendent of the penitentiary or reformatory, and in whose behalf the superintendent of the penitentiary or reformatory files a report certifying that his or her conduct and work have been meritorious and recommending allowance of time credits to him or her, shall upon, but not until, the adoption of such recommendation by the indeterminate sentence review board ((~~of prison terms and paroles~~)), be allowed time credit reductions from the term of imprisonment fixed by the indeterminate sentence review board ((~~of prison terms and paroles~~)).

(2)(a) Every person sentenced to a total of more than thirty months of total confinement in a correctional institution under the jurisdiction of the department of corrections must satisfactorily complete a high school education or achieve an equivalent score on the general educational development test before any earned time credits may be used to reduce the person's term of total confinement.

(A) The person has a chronic mental deficiency;

(B) The person is considered mentally retarded;

(D) A serious physical or mental illness makes completion of the educational program impossible.

(ii) This subsection (2)(b) may not be used to control inmate population levels.

(c) Failure to complete the requirements of this subsection (2) may not be used as the basis for extending a person's original term of confinement.

Sec. 3. RCW 72.09.130 and 1981 c 136 s 17 are each amended to read as follows:

(1) The department shall adopt a system providing incentives for good conduct and disincentives for poor conduct. The system may include increases or decreases in the degree of liberty granted the inmate within the programs operated by the department and recommended increases or decreases in the number of earned early release days that an inmate can earn for good conduct and good performance. Earned early release days shall be recommended by the department as a form of tangible reward for accomplishment. The system shall be fair, measurable, and understandable to offenders, staff, and the public. At least once in each twelve-month period, the department shall inform the offender in writing as to his or her conduct and performance. This written evaluation shall include reasons for awarding or not awarding recommended earned early release days for good conduct and good performance. The term "good performance" as used in this section means successfully performing a work, work training, or educational task to levels of expectation as specified in writing by the department. The term "good conduct" as used in this section refers to compliance with department rules.

Within one year after July 1, 1981, the department shall adopt, and provide a written description of, the system. The department shall provide a copy of this description to each offender in its custody.

(2)(a) The system adopted pursuant to this section shall provide that every person sentenced to a total of more than thirty months of total confinement in a correctional institution under the jurisdiction of the department of corrections must satisfactorily complete a high school education or achieve an equivalent score on the general educational development test before any earned early release time may be used to reduce the person's term of total confinement.

(A) The person has a chronic mental deficiency;

(B) The person is considered mentally retarded;

(D) A serious physical or mental illness makes completion of the educational program impossible.

(ii) This subsection (2)(b) may not be used to control inmate population levels.

(c) Failure to complete the requirements of this subsection (2) may not be used as the basis for extending a person's original term of confinement.