S.B. 250

1

DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS -
2 EMERGENCY RELEASE
3 1997 GENERAL SESSION
4 STATE OF UTAH
5 Sponsor: Lyle W. Hillyard
6 AN ACT RELATING TO STATE INSTITUTIONS; PROVIDING A CHANGE IN
7 TERMINOLOGY TO PHYSICAL CAPACITY FROM OPERATIONAL CAPACITY FOR
8 EMERGENCY RELEASE OF INMATES.
9 This act affects sections of Utah Code Annotated 1953 as follows:
10 AMENDS:
11 64-13-38, as last amended by Chapter 12, Laws of Utah 1994
12 Be it enacted by the Legislature of the state of Utah:
13 Section 1. Section 64-13-38 is amended to read:
14 64-13-38. Emergency release due to overcrowding.
15 (1) When the executive director of the department finds that the inmate population of the
16 Utah State Prison has exceeded [operational] physical capacity for at least 45 calendar days, he
17 may:
18 (a) notify the governor that an overcrowding emergency exists and provide him with
19 information relevant to that determination; and
20 (b) notify the Board of Pardons and Parole of the existence of the overcrowding
21 emergency so that the board may commence emergency releases pursuant to Subsection (2).
22 (2) Upon the governor's receipt of notification of the existence of an emergency release,
23 the department shall:
24 (a) notify the board of the number of inmates who need to be released in order to eliminate
25 the overcrowding emergency;
26 (b) in cooperation and consultation with the board, compile a list of inmates by
27 chronological order according to their existing parole release dates, sufficient to eliminate the

1 overcrowding emergency; and
2 (c) for each inmate listed in accordance with Subsection (2)(b), notify the board if the
3 department has any reason to believe that the inmate has violated a disciplinary rule or for some
4 other reason recommends that the inmate's existing parole date be rescinded.
5 (3) Unless the board has identified a reason to believe that the inmate's existing parole date
6 should be rescinded, the parole release date of each inmate identified in Subsection (2)(b) may be
7 advanced a sufficient number of days to allow for release.
8 (4) When the process described in Subsections (2) and (3) has been completed, the board
9 may order the release of the eligible inmates.
10 (5) The department shall:
11 (a) send to the Commission on Criminal and Juvenile Justice a list of names of the inmates
12 released under this section; and
13 (b) provide the name and address of each inmate to the local law enforcement agency for
14 the political subdivision in which the inmate intends to reside.
15 (6) The department shall inform the governor when the emergency release has been
16 completed.
17 (7) The board shall make rules in accordance with Title 63, Chapter 46a, Utah
18 Administrative Rulemaking Act, to carry out the provisions of this section.




Legislative Review Note
as of 2-20-97 4:37 PM

A limited legal review of this bill raises no obvious constitutional or statutory concerns.

Office of Legislative Research and General Counsel

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