§ 148-33.1. Sentencing, quartering, and control of prisoners with work-release privileges.
§148‑33.1. Sentencing, quartering, and control of prisoners with work‑releaseprivileges.
(a) Whenever a personis sentenced to imprisonment for a term to be served in the State prison systemor a local confinement facility, the Secretary of the Department of Correctionmay authorize the Director of Prisons or the custodian of the local confinementfacility to grant work‑release privileges to any inmate who is eligiblefor work release and who has not been granted work‑release privileges byorder of the sentencing court. The Secretary of Correction shall authorizeimmediate work‑release privileges for any person serving a sentence notexceeding five years in the State prison system and for whom the presidingjudge shall have recommended work‑release privileges when (i) it isverified that appropriate employment for the person is available in an areawhere, in the judgment of the Secretary, the Department of Correction hasfacilities to which the person may suitably be assigned, and (ii) custodial andcorrectional considerations would not be adverse to releasing the personwithout supervision into the free community.
(b) Repealed by SessionLaws 1981, c. 541, s. 2.
(c) The StateDepartment of Correction shall from time to time, as the need becomes evident,designate and adapt facilities in the State prison system for quarteringprisoners with work‑release privileges. No State or county prisoner shallbe granted work‑release privileges by the Director of Prisons or thecustodian of a local confinement facility until suitable facilities forquartering him have been provided in the area where the prisoner has employmentor the offer of employment.
(d) The Secretary ofCorrections is authorized and directed to establish a work‑release planunder which an eligible prisoner may be released from actual custody during thetime necessary to proceed to the place of his employment, perform his work, andreturn to quarters designated by the prison authorities. If the prisoner shallviolate any of the conditions prescribed by prison rules and regulations forthe administration of the work‑release plan, then such prisoner may bewithdrawn from work‑release privileges, and the prisoner may betransferred to the general prison population to serve out the remainder of hissentence. Rules and regulations for the administration of the work‑releaseplan shall be established in the same manner as other rules and regulations forthe government of the State prison system.
(e) The StateDepartment of Labor shall exercise the same supervision over conditions ofemployment for persons working in the free community while serving sentencesimposed under this section as the Department does over conditions of employmentfor free persons.
(f) A prisoner who isconvicted of a felony and who is granted work‑release privileges shallgive his work‑release earnings, less standard payroll deductions requiredby law, to the Department of Correction. A prisoner who is convicted of amisdemeanor, is committed to a local confinement facility, and is granted work‑releaseprivileges by order of the sentencing court shall give his work‑releaseearnings, less standard payroll deductions required by law, to the custodian ofthe local confinement facility. Other misdemeanants granted work‑releaseprivileges shall give their work‑release earnings, less standard payrolldeductions required by law, to the Department of Correction. The Department ofCorrection or the sentencing court, as appropriate, shall determine the amountto be deducted from a prisoner's work‑release earnings to pay for thecost of the prisoner's keep and to accumulate a reasonable sum to be paid theprisoner when he is paroled or discharged from prison. The Department orsentencing court shall also determine the amount to be disbursed by the Departmentor clerk of court, as appropriate, for each of the following:
(1) To pay travel andother expenses of the prisoner made necessary by his employment;
(2) To provide areasonable allowance to the prisoner for his incidental personal expenses;
(3) To make payments forthe support of the prisoner's dependents in accordance with an order of a courtof competent jurisdiction, or in the absence of a court order, in accordancewith a determination of dependency status and need made by the local departmentof social services in the county of North Carolina in which such dependentsreside;
(3a) To make restitutionor reparation as provided in G.S. 148‑33.2.
(4) To comply with anorder from any court of competent jurisdiction regarding the payment of anobligation of the prisoner in connection with any judgment rendered by thecourt.
(5) To comply with awritten request by the prisoner to withhold an amount, when the request hasbeen granted by the Department or the sentencing court, as appropriate.
Any balance of his earningsremaining at the time the prisoner is released from prison shall be paid tohim. The Social Services Commission is authorized to promulgate uniform rulesand regulations governing the duties of county social services departmentsunder this section.
(g) No prisoneremployed in the free community under the provisions of this section shall bedeemed to be an agent, employee, or involuntary servant of the State prisonsystem while working in the free community or going to or from such employment.
(h) Any prisoneremployed under the provisions of this section shall not be entitled to anybenefits under Chapter 96 of the General Statutes entitled "EmploymentSecurity" during the term of the sentence.
(i) No recommendationfor work release shall be made at the time of sentencing in any case in whichthe presiding judge shall suspend the imposition of sentence and place aconvicted person on probation; however, if probation be subsequently revokedand the active sentence of imprisonment executed, the court may at that timerecommend work release. Neither a recommendation for work release by the courtor the decision of the Secretary of Correction to place a person on workrelease shall give rise to any vested statutory right to an individual to beplaced on or continued on work release.
(j) The provisions ofsubsections (f), (g), and (h) of this section shall also apply to prisonersemployed in private prison enterprises conducted pursuant to G.S. 148‑70. (1957, c. 540; 1959, c. 126; 1961, c. 420; 1963, c. 469, ss. 1, 2;1967, c. 684; c. 996, s. 13; 1969, c. 982; 1973, c. 476, s. 138; c. 1262, s.10; 1975, c. 22, ss. 1‑3; c. 679, s. 3; 1977, c. 450, ss. 4, 5; c. 614,s. 6; c. 623, ss. 1, 2; c. 711, s. 29; 1977, 2nd Sess., c. 1147, s. 32; 1981,c. 541, ss. 1‑3; 1985, c. 474, s. 3; 1985 (Reg. Sess., 1986), c. 1014, s.201(f)‑(i); 1991 (Reg. Sess., 1992), c. 902, s. 6.)