BILL REQ. #: S-4255.1
State of Washington | 62nd Legislature | 2012 Regular Session |
Read first time 02/01/12. Referred to Committee on Human Services & Corrections.
AN ACT Relating to the early release offenders; amending RCW 9.94A.728; and adding a new section to chapter 9.94A RCW.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
Sec. 1 RCW 9.94A.728 and 2010 c 224 s 6 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) An offender may earn early release time as authorized by RCW
9.94A.729;
(2) 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;
(3)(((a))) The ((secretary may authorize)) offender is granted an
extraordinary medical placement ((for an offender when all of the
following conditions exist:)) pursuant to section 2 of this act;
(i) The offender has a medical condition that is serious and is
expected to require costly care or treatment;
(ii) The offender poses a low risk to the community because he or
she is currently physically incapacitated due to age or the medical
condition or is expected to be so at the time of release; and
(iii) It is expected that granting the extraordinary medical
placement will result in a cost savings to the state.
(b) An offender sentenced to death or to life imprisonment without
the possibility of release or parole is not eligible for an
extraordinary medical placement.
(c) The secretary shall require electronic monitoring for all
offenders in extraordinary medical placement unless the electronic
monitoring equipment interferes with the function of the offender's
medical equipment or results in the loss of funding for the offender's
medical care, in which case, an alternative type of monitoring shall be
utilized. The secretary shall specify who shall provide the monitoring
services and the terms under which the monitoring shall be performed.
(d) The secretary may revoke an extraordinary medical placement
under this subsection at any time.
(e) Persistent offenders are not eligible for extraordinary medical
placement
(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 offender's term of
confinement may be served in partial confinement designed to aid the
offender in finding work and reestablishing himself or herself in the
community or no more than the final twelve months of the offender's
term of confinement may be served in partial confinement as part of the
parenting program in RCW 9.94A.6551. This is in addition to that
period of earned early release time that may be exchanged for partial
confinement pursuant to RCW 9.94A.729(5)(d);
(6) The governor may pardon any offender;
(7) The department may release an offender from confinement any
time within ten days before a release date calculated under this
section;
(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.870; and
(9) Notwithstanding any other provisions of this section, an
offender sentenced for a felony crime listed in RCW 9.94A.540 as
subject to a mandatory minimum sentence of total confinement shall not
be released from total confinement before the completion of the listed
mandatory minimum sentence for that felony crime of conviction unless
allowed under RCW 9.94A.540.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 2 A new section is added to chapter 9.94A RCW
to read as follows:
(1) An offender is eligible for consideration for extraordinary
medical placement upon written certification by a department-approved
licensed treating physician that, within a reasonable degree of
certainty, one of the following circumstances exist:
(a) The offender has a serious incapacitating medical need which
requires treatment that cannot reasonably be provided while confined in
a state correctional facility;
(b) The offender is incapacitated by age to the extent that
deteriorating physical or mental health substantially diminishes the
ability of the inmate to provide self-care within the environment of a
correctional facility;
(c) The offender is permanently physically incapacitated as the
result of an irreversible injury, disease, or illness which makes
significant physical activity impossible, renders the inmate dependent
on permanent medical intervention for survival, or confines the inmate
to a bed, wheelchair, or other assistive device where the offender's
mobility is significantly limited; or
(d) The offender suffers from a terminal illness caused by injury
or disease that is predicted to result in death within twelve months of
the application for extraordinary medical placement.
(2) The secretary may transfer an offender to extraordinary medical
placement if one of the conditions in subsection (1) of this section
applies and the offender has a release plan with adequate living
arrangements in the community.
(3) The secretary shall transfer an offender to extraordinary
medical placement if one of the conditions in subsection (1) of this
section applies and:
(a) The offender is assessed as a low or moderate risk to reoffend;
(b) The offender is not serving a sentence for a serious violent
offense, rape in the second degree, or indecent liberties with forcible
compulsion; and
(c) The offender has a release plan with adequate living
arrangements in the community.
(4) While in the community on extraordinary medical placement, the
department shall:
(a) Require the offender to be placed on electronic home monitoring
unless the electronic monitoring equipment interferes with the function
of the offender's medical equipment or results in the loss of funding
for the offender's medical care, in which case, an alternative type of
monitoring shall be utilized;
(b) Apply other terms and conditions to the offender's placement as
deemed appropriate by the secretary; and
(c) Assign a community corrections officer who will monitor the
offender's compliance with the terms and conditions of the placement.
(5) The secretary may revoke an extraordinary medical placement at
any time.