5559960 Corrections, D.C. Department of - Notice of Final Rulemaking - Regulations for Work Release including Community Corrections and Electronic Monitoring

DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS

 

NOTICE OF FINAL RULEMAKING

 

The Director of the Department of Corrections (Director), pursuant to Sections 2 and 4 of the District of Columbia Work Release Act, effective November 10, 1966 (80 Stat. 1519, Pub. L. 89-803; D.C. Official Code §§ 24-241.01, 24-241.03 (2012 Repl.)), hereby gives notice of the intent to take final rulemaking action for the adoption of an amendment to Chapter 5 (Correctional Institutions) of Title 28 (Corrections, Courts, and Criminal Justice) of the District of Columbia Municipal Regulations (DCMR).

 

Chapter 5 is amended through the addition of Section 533 (Work Release), to establish the work release options available for eligible inmates. The purpose of this rulemaking is to diversify the current options available to the D.C. Department of Corrections for work release, which allows for placement of certain inmates in a Community Correctional Center (CCC or Halfway House), to include Home Electronic Monitoring as an alternative to traditional incarceration. The rulemaking will reduce unnecessary incarceration, begin the process of reintegration back into society, maintain family and community ties, and allow work release, school and other authorized activities while still providing security, monitoring and support to the detained individual.

 

The Notice of Proposed Rulemaking was published in the D.C. Register on May 29, 2015 at 62 DCR 6917. No comments on the proposed rules were received from the public during the thirty (30) day comment period, which expired on June 28, 2015, and no substantive changes were made to the text of the final rulemaking.. These rules were adopted as final on July 1, 2015 and shall become effective upon publication in the D.C. Register.

 

Chapter 5, CORRECTIONAL INSTITUTIONS, of Title 28  DCMR, CORRECTIONS, COURTS, AND CRIMINAL JUSTICE, is amended to include a new Section 533, to read as follows:

 

533                  WORK RELEASE

 

533.1               The work release program administered by the Department of Corrections shall consist of confinement of inmates in either Community Correctional Centers with or without electronic monitoring or in private residences with electronic monitoring.

 

533.2               The Director of the Department of Corrections shall state in writing the terms and conditions under which a person granted work release privileges may be released from actual custody at the place of confinement during the time necessary to proceed to the person’s place of employment or other authorized places, perform specified activities, and return to a place of confinement designated by the Director of the Department of Corrections.

 

533.3               In order to be eligible for work release, inmates must pass a medical clearance and have no other pending commitments, writs, holds, detainers or warrants.

 

533.4               For purposes of this chapter, the following terms shall have the meaning ascribed:

 

(1)               “Community Correctional Centers” – Residential facilities where inmates are placed to begin the process of reintegration into society and that allow work release and return to detention while still providing security, monitoring, and support.

 

(2)               “Electronic Monitoring” – Use of an ankle bracelet transmitter tracking (Global Positioning System – GPS) device to account for the location of an individual at all times, for the purpose of verifying compliance with all terms of the individual’s work release privileges including arrival at and departure from authorized locations and activities, and all other program requirements.