CHARLESTON, WV (LOOTPRESS) – Interim Sessions for the West Virginia Legislature continued on Monday as the Oversight Commission on Regional Jail and Correctional Facilities convened to discuss potential solutions to ongoing issues in the corrections system throughout the state.
Specifics discussed during Monday’s session included bail and reporting requirements, an issue on which lawmakers could not come to a consensus during last month’s special session. A proposed bill would have seen bail procedures throughout the state amended to add reporting requirements which would limit the number of individuals being held in facilities without an active conviction.
The proposed legislation would also have changed the manner in which individuals who had been arrested would be able to post bail, with stipulations being added for the use of bail bondsmen and transfers of property and liens rather than the requirement of cash payments by judges. The bill would also have implemented reporting requirements for the Supreme Court as well as prosecutors.
Prosecutors, under the proposed legislation, would have been required to file reports to their respective county commissions on a bimonthly basis which would list each individual being held in custody without a conviction for a period longer than ten days. These reports would also have included significant reasons for the continued holds.
Lawmakers heard from Ronni Sheets, a Public Defender from Kanawha County, who stated that the codifying of reporting requirements lead to more consistent data with regard to these issues. This would consequently, Sheets said, also lead to lower populations in corrections facilities, ultimately saving millions of dollars for counties throughout the state.
Sheets advised that 500 individuals being held in corrections facilities across the state who had been accused but not convicted of misdemeanors. Of these 500, roughly 250 were said to be serving sentences due to misdemeanor charges.
Additionally, Sheets stated that the estimated $54 per night cost to taxpayers for the incarceration of those charged with misdemeanors is lower than the “human cost” of the loss of homes, child custody, and employment.
Additional LOOTPRESS coverage of the ongoing Interim Sessions of the West Virginia Legislature can be found here.