                                 CODE OF VIRGINIA

ASSIGNMENT TO A HOME/ELECTRONIC INCARCERATION PROGRAM; PAYMENT TO DEFRAY COSTS;
ESCAPE; PENALTY (§ 53.1-131.2)

A. Any court having jurisdiction for the trial of a person charged with a
criminal offense, a traffic offense or an offense under Chapter 5 (&#xA7; 20-61
et seq.) of Title 20, or failure to pay child support pursuant to a court order
may, if the defendant is convicted and sentenced to confinement in a state or
local correctional facility, and if it appears to the court that such an
offender is a suitable candidate for home/electronic incarceration, assign the
offender to a home/electronic incarceration program as a condition of probation,
if such program exists, under the supervision of the sheriff, the administrator
of a local or regional jail, or a Department of Corrections probation and parole
district office established pursuant to &#xA7; 53.1-141. However, any offender
who is convicted of any of the following violations of Chapter 4 (&#xA7; 18.2-30
et seq.) of Title 18.2 shall not be eligible for participation in the
home/electronic incarceration program: (i) first and second degree murder and
voluntary manslaughter under Article 1 (&#xA7; 18.2-30 et seq.); (ii)
mob-related felonies under Article 2 (&#xA7; 18.2-38 et seq.); (iii) any
kidnapping or abduction felony under Article 3 (&#xA7; 18.2-47 et seq.); (iv)
any malicious felonious assault or malicious bodily wounding under Article 4
(&#xA7; 18.2-51 et seq.); (v) robbery under &#xA7; 18.2-58.1; or (vi) any
criminal sexual assault punishable as a felony under Article 7 (&#xA7; 18.2-61
et seq.). The court may further authorize the offender&#8217;s participation in
work release employment or educational or other rehabilitative programs as
defined in &#xA7; 53.1-131 or, as appropriate, in a court-ordered intensive case
monitoring program for child support. The court shall be notified in writing by
the director or administrator of the program to which the offender is assigned
of the offender&#8217;s place of home/electronic incarceration, place of
employment, and the location of any educational or rehabilitative program in
which the offender participates.

B. In any city or county in which a home/electronic incarceration program
established pursuant to this section is available, the court, subject to
approval by the sheriff or the jail superintendent of a local or regional jail,
may assign the accused to such a program pending trial if it appears to the
court that the accused is a suitable candidate for home/electronic
incarceration.

C. Any person who has been sentenced to jail or convicted and sentenced to
confinement in prison but is actually serving his sentence in jail, after notice
to the attorney for the Commonwealth of the convicting jurisdiction, may be
assigned by the sheriff to a home/electronic incarceration program under the
supervision of the sheriff, the administrator of a local or regional jail, or a
Department of Corrections probation and parole office established pursuant to
&#xA7; 53.1-141. However, if the offender violates any provision of the terms of
the home/electronic incarceration agreement, the offender may have the
assignment revoked and, if revoked, shall be held in the jail facility to which
he was originally sentenced. Such person shall be eligible if his term of
confinement does not include a sentence for a conviction of a felony violent
crime, a felony sexual offense, burglary or manufacturing, selling, giving,
distributing or possessing with the intent to manufacture, sell, give or
distribute a Schedule I or Schedule II controlled substance. The court shall
retain authority to remove the offender from such home/electronic incarceration
program. The court which sentenced the offender shall be notified in writing by
the sheriff or the administrator of a local or regional jail of the
offender&#8217;s place of home/electronic incarceration and place of employment
or other rehabilitative program.

D. The Board may prescribe regulations to govern home/electronic incarceration
programs, and the Director may prescribe rules to govern home/electronic
incarceration programs operated under the supervision of a Department of
Corrections probation and parole district office established pursuant to &#xA7;
53.1-141.

E. Any offender or accused assigned to such a program by the court or sheriff
who, without proper authority or just cause, leaves his place of home/electronic
incarceration, the area to which he has been assigned to work or attend
educational or other rehabilitative programs, including a court-ordered
intensive case monitoring program for child support, or the vehicle or route of
travel involved in his going to or returning from such place, is guilty of a
Class 1 misdemeanor. An offender or accused who is found guilty of a violation
of this section shall be ineligible for further participation in a
home/electronic incarceration program during his current term of confinement.

F. The director or administrator of a home/electronic incarceration program who
also operates a residential program may remove an offender from a
home/electronic incarceration program and place him in such residential program
if the offender commits a noncriminal program violation. The court shall be
notified of the violation and of the placement of the offender in the
residential program.

G. The director or administrator of a home/electronic incarceration program may
charge the offender or accused a fee for participating in the program which
shall be used for the cost of home/electronic incarceration equipment. The
offender or accused shall be required to pay the program for any damage to the
equipment which is in his possession or for failure to return the equipment to
the program.

H. Any wages earned by an offender or accused assigned to a home/electronic
incarceration program and participating in work release shall be paid to the
director or administrator after standard payroll deductions required by law.
Distribution of the money collected shall be made in the following order of
priority to:

   1. Meet the obligation of any judicial or administrative order to provide
   support and such funds shall be disbursed according to the terms of such
   order;

   2. Pay any fines, restitution or costs as ordered by the court;

   3. Pay travel and other such expenses made necessary by his work release
   employment or participation in an education or rehabilitative program,
   including the sums specified in &#xA7; 53.1-150; and

   4. Defray the offender&#8217;s keep.
   				The balance shall be credited to the offender&#8217;s account or sent to
   his family in an amount the offender so chooses.
   				The State Board of Local and Regional Jails shall promulgate regulations
   governing the receipt of wages paid to persons participating in such programs,
   except programs operated under the supervision of a Department of Corrections
   probation and parole district office established pursuant to &#xA7; 53.1-141,
   the withholding of payments, and the disbursement of appropriate funds. The
   Director shall prescribe rules governing the receipt of wages paid to persons
   participating in such programs operated under the supervision of a Department
   of Corrections probation and parole district office established pursuant to
   &#xA7; 53.1-141, the withholding of payments, and the disbursement of
   appropriate funds.

I. For the purposes of this section, &#8220;sheriff&#8221; means the sheriff of
the jurisdiction where the person charged with the criminal offense was
convicted and sentenced, provided that the sheriff may designate a deputy
sheriff or regional jail administrator to assign offenders to home/electronic
incarceration programs pursuant to this section.

HISTORY: 1989, c. 476; 1990, c. 209; 1991, cc. 278, 428; 1992, c. 604; 1994, cc.
612, 659, 688, 720, 841, 945; 2000, c. 423; 2002, c. 800; 2010, c. 682; 2020,
cc. 10, 759.