§62-13-4 Powers and duties of commissioner or director generally; compensation and funds of inmates.
§62-13-4. Powers and duties of commissioner or director generally; compensation and funds of inmates.
To accomplish the purposes of this article, the commissioner (or the director of corrections management if one is appointed) shall:
(a) Exercise general supervision over the administration of the institutions under the jurisdiction of the department;
(b) Establish separate subdivisions, to be headed by deputy directors, of adult services, youth services, and other subdivisions as he deems advisable, which may be headed by the same or different deputy directors, which said deputy directors must be graduates of an accredited college or university with a degree in sociology, psychology, social science or a related field;
(c) Establish rules and regulations in writing governing all subdivisions and institutions within the department;
(d) Establish an in-service training program for personnel of the department;
(e) Classify the institutions of the department, varying according to such factors as security features, program, age and sex of inmates, physical stature or size, character of inmates;
(f) Establish a system of classification of inmates, through a reception and examination procedure, and in each institution a classification committee and procedure for assignment of inmates within the programs of the institution;
(g) Cooperate with the department of education in providing for the education of inmates in all institutions within the department, subject to section thirteen-f, article two, chapter eighteen of this code;
(h) Supervise the treatment, custody and discipline of all inmates and the maintenance of the institutions and their industries;
(i) Establish a system of compensation for inmates of the correctional institutions of the state who perform good and satisfactory work either within the industrial program or in the servicing and maintenance of the correctional institutions or any other institutions or camps within the state. The commissioner (or the director, with the approval of the commissioner) may establish a graduated scale of compensation to be paid to inmates in accordance with their skill in industry.
The principal officer of any correctional institution, on request of an inmate, may expend up to one half of the money so earned by such inmate on behalf of the family of such inmate. The remainder of the money so earned, after deducting amounts expended as aforesaid, shall be accumulated to the credit of the inmate and be paid to the inmate at such times as may be prescribed by such rules and regulations. Such funds so accumulated on behalf of inmates shall be held by the principal officer of each institution, under a bond approved by the attorney general.
The accumulation of such total funds, not necessary for current distribution, shall be invested, with the approval of the commissioner or as appropriate, the director through the West Virginia municipal bond commission, in short term bonds or treasury certificates or equivalent of the United States. Bonds and certificates so purchased shall remain in the custody of the state treasurer. The earnings from investments so made shall be reported to the principal officer of each institution from time to time, as earned, and shall be credited to the respective accounts of such institutions by the commission.
When such earnings are transferred to the respective institutions, they shall be credited by the principal officer to the credit of and for the benefit of the inmates' activities account.