_______________________________________________
HOUSE
BILL 1297
_______________________________________________
Passed
Legislature - 1999 Regular Session
State
of Washington 56th Legislature 1999 Regular Session
By
Read
first time 01/21/1999. Referred to Committee on Criminal Justice &
Corrections.
Clarifying the application of limitations on earned early
release time to serious violent offenders.
AN
ACT Relating to earned early release time; and amending RCW 9.94A.150.
BE IT
ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
Sec.
1. RCW
9.94A.150 and 1996 c 199 s 2 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 subsection (2) 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 who has been
convicted of a felony committed after July 23, 1995, that involves any
applicable deadly weapon enhancements under RCW 9.94A.310 (3) or (4), or both,
shall not receive any good time credits or earned early release time for that
portion of his or her sentence that results from any deadly weapon
enhancements. 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, vehicular homicide, vehicular
assault, assault of a child 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
himself 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
sentence if the sentence has been reduced as provided in RCW 9.94A.160.
Notwithstanding
any other provisions of this section, an offender sentenced for a felony crime
listed in RCW 9.94A.120(4) 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.120(4).
Passed the House February 24, 1999.
Passed the Senate April 6, 1999.
Approved by the Governor
April 19, 1999.
Filed
in Office of Secretary of State April 19, 1999.
