CNS Briefs

Inmate re-entry

Faced with rising prison populations
and a projected need to build at least
two prisons in the next five years, state
legislators exchanged bills aimed at reducing
recidivism, the relapse of criminal
behavior, of Virginia prison inmates.

According to a Department of
Corrections’ study, one in three people
released from a Virginia prison returns
within three years.

Senate Bill 200 and House Bill
651 call for societal re-entry plans
for every new inmate admitted into a
Virginia prison. Both bills passed their
respective chambers unanimously and
have crossed over to be considered a
second time.

“The goal is to reduce the recidivism
rate. If we can do that, it will make
productive citizens and be less prisons
we have to build,” said Delegate
Thomas C. Wright, R-Victoria, who
introduced the House bill.

Sen. Linda T. “Toddy” Puller, RMount
Vernon, introduced the Senate
legislation. Puller says the bill is the
product of a joint legal commission,
which studies prisoner re-entry, and
which Puller has chaired for the past
three years.

Currently, new inmates are interviewed
to assess their security and
treatment needs. Counselors develop
treatment plans for the inmates and
track their progress each year.

Brief by Alexander Harris

Illegal-alien bail bill passes House

A bill that would determine if illegal
aliens charged with a criminal offense
are admitted bail was approved and
passed to the Senate on the House floor
this past week by a 98-0 vote.

Proposed by Delegate Thomas
Davis Rust, R-Herndon, House Bill 440
would institute a presumption against
admitting bail for any illegal aliens
charged with certain crimes and subject
to detention by the Law Enforcement
Support Center. This center is a part of
the Bureau of Immigration and Customs
Enforcement of the U.S. Department of
Homeland Security.

Delegate H. Morgan Griffith, RSalem,
said many of those charged
with crimes listed in the original bill
are unlikely to receive bail. He said
if the ICE gets involved, the suspect
might pose a flight risk.

“Where ICE thinks it’s serious
enough that they’re going to come
get them (illegal aliens), there’s a
likelihood that they (the aliens) might
not stay around,” Griffith said.

Brief by Travis Lyle

Abuse victim fights for funds to catch predators

At 13, Alicia Kozakiewicz was
kidnapped and tortured by a man she
met through the Internet.

Today, Kozakiewicz is a college
sophomore who lobbies the federal
and Virginia governments to increase
funding to fight sexual predators.
This General Assembly session, she
supports House Bill 1189, which
would increase funding to fight child
exploitation in Virginia. The bill’s
sponsor is Delegate Brian J. Moran,
D-Alexandria.

“With increased Internet access and
increasing use, we’re inviting these
child sex predators into our homes,”
Moran said in a telephone interview.
“It is an expanding problem, and the
police need additional resources to
investigate, arrest and prosecute these
people.”

However, the House Appropriations
Committee tabled HB 1189 before the
General Assembly’s crossover day this
past Tuesday,

On crossover day, each General
Assembly chamber must finish work
on its own bills. Normally, because
the House did not approve HB 1189
by this deadline, the bill would be
considered dead for this year’s session.
But Moran said he still is negotiating
with the committee and he hopes to
obtain at least partial funding.

“As long as the session is still going on,
I’m not going to give up,” Moran said.

Brief by Meredith Kight