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2018 SESSION

18106189D
HOUSE BILL NO. 444
AMENDMENT IN THE NATURE OF A SUBSTITUTE
(Proposed by the House Committee on Militia, Police and Public Safety
on February 2, 2018)
(Patron Prior to Substitute--Delegate Carroll Foy)
A BILL to amend and reenact § 53.1-154 of the Code of Virginia, relating to Parole Board; personal interviews of prisoners.

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. That § 53.1-154 of the Code of Virginia is amended and reenacted as follows:

§ 53.1-154. Times at which Virginia Parole Board to review cases.

The Virginia Parole Board shall by regulation divide each calendar year into such equal parts as it may deem appropriate to the efficient administration of the parole system. Unless there be reasonable cause for extension of the time within which to review and decide a case, the Board shall review and decide the case of each prisoner no later than that part of the calendar year in which he becomes eligible for parole, and at least annually thereafter, until he is released on parole or discharged, except that upon any such review the Board may schedule the next review as much as three years thereafter, provided there are ten years or more or life imprisonment remaining on the sentence in such case. Notwithstanding any other provision of this article, in the case of a parole revocation, if such person is otherwise eligible for parole, the Board shall review and decide his case no later than that part of the calendar year one year subsequent to the part of the calendar year in which he was returned to a facility as provided in § 53.1-161. Thereafter, his case shall be reviewed as specified in this section. The Board, in addition, may review the case of any prisoner eligible for parole at any other time and may review the case of any prisoner prior to that part of the year otherwise specified. In the discretion of the Board, interviews may be conducted by the Board or its representatives and may be either public or private. However, in the case of a prisoner eligible for parole who has served at least 20 years of his sentence and has no record of violations of any written prison rules or regulations within the immediately preceding five-year period, at least one member of the Board shall conduct at least one in-person interview of such prisoner every three years