An Act To Allow Young Adult Offenders To Be Confined in Juvenile Correctional Facilities and To Comply with Federal Law Requirements
Sec. 1. 15 MRSA §3101, sub-§4, ¶E-1, as amended by PL 1997, c. 645, §5, is repealed.
Sec. 2. 15 MRSA §3101, sub-§4, ¶E-2, as enacted by PL 2003, c. 706, Pt. A, §1, is amended to read:
Sec. 3. 15 MRSA §3203-A, sub-§7, ¶A, as amended by PL 2009, c. 93, §5, is further amended to read:
(1) Contains an area where juveniles are under direct staff observation at all times, in a separate section for juveniles that complies with mandatory sight and sound separation standards established by the Department of Corrections pursuant to Title 34-A, section 1208;
(2) Provides for no regular contact between the juveniles with the adult detainees or inmates; and
(3) Has an adequate staff to provide direct observation and supervise the juvenile's activities at all times during emergency detention.
Juveniles detained in adult-serving facilities may be placed only in the separate juvenile sections that comply with mandatory separation standards established by the Department of Corrections pursuant to Title 34-A, section 1208, unless the juvenile is held in an adult section of a facility under section 3205, subsection 2 or is bound over as an adult and held in an adult section of a facility pursuant to court order section 3101, subsection 4, paragraph E-2.
Sec. 4. 15 MRSA §3203-A, sub-§7, ¶B-4, as amended by PL 2009, c. 93, §6, is further amended to read:
Sec. 5. 15 MRSA §3203-A, sub-§7, ¶C, as amended by PL 1997, c. 752, §13, is repealed.
Sec. 6. 15 MRSA §3203-A, sub-§7, ¶D, as repealed and replaced by PL 1991, c. 824, Pt. A, §24, is repealed.
Sec. 7. 15 MRSA §3205, sub-§1, as amended by PL 2005, c. 507, §6, is further amended to read:
Sec. 8. 15 MRSA §3205, sub-§2, ¶B, as enacted by PL 2009, c. 93, §8, is amended to read:
Sec. 9. 17-A MRSA §1259, as enacted by PL 2007, c. 686, §1, is further amended to read:
§ 1259. Commitments to the Department of Corrections of bound-over juveniles who have not attained 18 years of age at the time of sentence imposition
A juvenile who has been bound over, pursuant to Title 15, section 3101, subsection 4, for a juvenile crime for which the juvenile had the burden of proof with respect to the finding of appropriateness, who is subsequently, as to the juvenile crime's adult counterpart, convicted and sentenced to a sentence alternative involving imprisonment and who has not attained 16 18 years of age at the time of sentence imposition must be committed to a Department of Corrections juvenile correctional facility for an indeterminate period not to extend beyond the juvenile's 18th birthday to serve the term of imprisonment or any unsuspended portion until discharge from the juvenile correctional facility and once discharged must be transferred to a Department of Corrections adult correctional facility in which adult offenders are confined to serve out the remainder of the imprisonment term or unsuspended portion, if any.
Sec. 10. 34-A MRSA §3061, sub-§1, as amended by PL 1991, c. 845, §5, is further amended to read:
Sec. 11. 34-A MRSA §3816 is enacted to read:
§ 3816. Young adult offenders
The commissioner may confine adults sentenced and committed to the custody of the department who have not attained 26 years of age in the Long Creek Youth Development Center as long as the housing facilities for adult offenders are fully separated from the housing facilities for juvenile clients and the commissioner maintains at all times full compliance with mandatory sight and sound separation standards established by federal law. All provisions of this Title that are applicable to prisoners apply to adult offenders confined in the Long Creek Youth Development Center as if they were confined in a correctional facility housing only adults.
Sec. 12. 34-A MRSA §4117 is enacted to read:
§ 4117. Young adult offenders
The commissioner may confine adults sentenced and committed to the custody of the department who have not attained 26 years of age in the Mountain View Youth Development Center as long as the housing facilities for adult offenders are fully separated from the housing facilities for juvenile clients and the commissioner maintains at all times full compliance with mandatory sight and sound separation standards established by federal law. All provisions of this Title that are applicable to prisoners apply to adult offenders confined in the Mountain View Youth Development Center as if they were confined in a correctional facility housing only adults.
summary
This bill permits the Department of Corrections to incarcerate young adult offenders who are at least 18 years of age and under 26 years of age and who are subjects of the adult criminal justice system at the Long Creek Youth Development Center and the Mountain View Youth Development Center. The Commissioner of Corrections is required to maintain full sight and sound separation of the young adult population from the juvenile population.
This bill also ensures compliance with federal law requirements for the housing of juveniles bound over for adult criminal proceedings.