66-25.1:3 - Extending limits of confinement of state wards for work and educational programs; disposition of wa...
§ 66-25.1:3. Extending limits of confinement of state wards for work andeducational programs; disposition of wages; penalties for violations.
A. The Director is authorized to establish work release programs, subject tosuch rules and regulations as the Board may prescribe, whereby (i) a juvenilewho is proficient in any trade or occupation and who meets the work releasecriteria established by the Director, may be approved for employment byprivate individuals, corporations, or state agencies at places of business,or (ii) a juvenile who the Director is satisfied meets the work releasecriteria and is capable of receiving substantial benefit from educational andother related community activity programs that are not available within ajuvenile correctional center may attend such programs outside of the juvenilecorrectional facility.
B. The Director may contract with the superintendent of a local detentionfacility or home for the temporary placement of a committed juvenile who isdeemed appropriate for participation in the programs or services provided byor through a certified post-dispositional program in that local detentionfacility or home. A juvenile who the Director is satisfied meets the workrelease criteria and is capable of receiving substantial benefit fromeducational programs, employment or other related community activity programsavailable at or through the local detention facility or home is eligible forplacement in such local detention facility or home.
C. The compensation for such employment shall be arranged by the Director andshall be the same as that of regular employees in similar occupations. Anywages earned shall be paid to the Director. The Director shall, in accordancewith regulations promulgated by the Board, deduct from such wages, in thefollowing order of priority, an amount to:
1. Meet the obligation of any judicial or administrative order to providesupport, and such funds shall be disbursed according to the terms of suchorder;
2. Pay any fines, restitution, or costs as ordered by the court; and
3. Pay travel and other such expenses made necessary by his work releaseemployment or participation in an educational or rehabilitative program.
The balance shall be credited to the juvenile's account or sent to his familyin an amount the juvenile chooses.
D. Any juvenile who has been placed in any of the programs authorized hereinshall, while outside the juvenile correctional center or juvenile detentionfacility to which he is assigned, be deemed to be in custody whether or nothe is under the supervision of a juvenile correctional officer. If thejuvenile, without proper authority or without just cause, leaves the area inwhich he has been directed to work or to attend educational or communityactivity programs, or the vehicle or route involved in his traveling to orfrom such place or program, he may be found guilty of escape as provided forin § 18.2-477 as though he had left the secure facility as defined in §16.1-228; or, if there are mitigating circumstances or the culpability of thejuvenile is minimal, he may be found guilty of a Class 2 misdemeanor.
E. The Director and any superintendent or other administrative head of anylocal detention facility are authorized to enter into agreements wherebypersons committed to the Department, whether such persons are housed in ajuvenile correctional center or a local detention facility, and who meet theDepartment's standards for such release, may participate in local workrelease programs or in educational or other rehabilitative programs operatingpursuant to this section. Any person so placed shall be governed by the rulesand regulations applicable to local work release programs.
F. In the event that the juvenile is committed to the Department as a seriousoffender pursuant to § 16.1-285.1, the juvenile shall not be approved forplacement in a work release program located outside of the juvenilecorrectional facility without written approval of the committing court.
(2005, c. 648.)