§ 13-8-32 - Community supervision.
SECTION 13-8-32
§ 13-8-32 Community supervision. –(a) Except as otherwise provided in this section, a person who has been placedon community supervision shall be subject to the provisions of law governingparole as if the person were a parolee. The parole board shall impose terms andconditions for the sentence within thirty (30) days of sentencing. The termsand conditions may be revised, altered, and amended by the parole board at anytime.
(b) A person under community supervision shall be under thejurisdiction, supervision and control of the parole board in the same manner asa person under parole supervision. The board is authorized on an individualbasis to establish any conditions of community supervision that may benecessary to ensure public safety, which may include protecting the public froma person committing a sex offense including child molestation or childkidnapping as well as promoting the rehabilitation of the person. Theconditions shall include at the expense of the offender sex offender treatmentwith a recognized treatment provider in the field to be determined by the boardfor as long as the board deems necessary, and compliance with the requirementsof chapter 37 of title 11.
(c) The board is authorized to impose and enforce asupervision fee, and rehabilitation fee upon a person on community supervision.To the extent possible the board shall set the fee in an amount that willsubstantially defray the cost of the community supervision program.
(d) The board shall also establish a fee waiver procedure forhardship cases and indigency.
(e) After a person sentenced to community supervision hasbeen under supervision for a period of fifteen (15) years or any time after theperson ceases to be a resident of the state, the person may petition the boardfor termination of community supervision. A petition for termination which isbased upon the person no longer being a resident of Rhode Island shall beaccompanied by an affidavit of the person attesting to his or her non-residencyand providing his or her new out of state address. A petition for terminationwhich is based upon the completion of fifteen (15) years of communitysupervision may only occur by a majority vote of all the members of thecommunity supervision board. Termination may only occur by a majority vote ofall the members. Upon receiving a petition for termination, the board shall,within sixty (60) days, conduct a hearing before the full membership. At leastthirty (30) days prior to a hearing on the petition, the board shall cause acriminal history check to be conducted, and notify in writing the victims ofthe crime for which the sentence was imposed, the attorney general, and thechief of police or head of the organized police department of the municipalityin which the crime was committed, and the chief of police or head of theorganized police department of the municipality in which the person resides, ofthe person's petition for release from community supervision. Those officialsand victims shall be provided the opportunity to respond to the petition. Theofficials and victims may appear in person or be represented or make writtenrecommendations to the board, but failure of any or all of the officials toappear or make recommendations shall not delay the termination procedure.
(f) If a victim is deceased at the time the terminationhearing is scheduled the deceased victim may be represented by his relatives inthe following order: mother, father, spouse, child, grandchild, brother orsister, niece or nephew.
(g) Prior to the hearing, the petitioner shall be examined,personally interviewed and evaluated by a psychiatrist or licensedpsychologist, who is an expert in the field of sex offender treatment andapproved by the board. The psychiatrist or psychologist shall file writtenreports with the board of his or her examinations and diagnoses, and his or herrecommendation for the disposition of the person. The petitioner's treatmentwhile on community supervision shall be examined and considered by thepsychiatrist or psychologist in the recommendation. The reports shall beadmissible in a hearing pursuant to this section. If the person refuses,without good cause, to be personally interviewed by the psychiatrist orpsychologist, the person shall be deemed to have waived his or her right to ahearing on the petition, and the petition shall be dismissed by the board. Thecost of the examination and evaluation shall be the responsibility of theperson petitioning for release from supervision; provided, that proceduresshall be established for cases of hardship or indigency.
(h) At the hearing, the board shall call any witnesses thatit deems necessary, including the examining psychiatrist or psychologist, theattorney general, the police chief or the victims of the crime or his or herfamily member, as the board deems necessary. The petitioner may offer anywitnesses and other proof at the hearing that is relevant to the petition.
(i) The board shall terminate community supervision if thepetitioner demonstrates, by clear and convincing evidence, that he or she hasnot committed a sex offense of child kidnapping since his or her conviction,that he or she is not likely to pose a threat to the safety of others, and thatthe public interest is not served by further community supervision.
(j) If a petition for release from supervision is denied bythe board, the person may not file another petition for a period of three (3)years.