House Bill 3539c1

    Florida House of Representatives - 1998             CS/HB 3539

        By the Committee on Corrections and Representatives Ritter
    and Heyman





  1                      A bill to be entitled

  2         An act relating to notification of an escaped

  3         offender; amending s. 960.001, F.S.; clarifying

  4         applicability of notification requirements to

  5         private correctional facilities; requiring that

  6         the state attorney notify the sentencing judge

  7         of an escaped offender; requiring the

  8         institution of confinement to notify the state

  9         attorney when the escaped offender is

10         subsequently captured and when the escaped

11         offender is returned to the institution of

12         confinement; providing an effective date.

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14  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:

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16         Section 1.  Paragraph (p) of subsection (1) of section

17  960.001, Florida Statutes, is amended to read:

18         960.001  Guidelines for fair treatment of victims and

19  witnesses in the criminal justice and juvenile justice

20  systems.--

21         (1)  The Department of Legal Affairs, the state

22  attorneys, the Department of Corrections, the Department of

23  Juvenile Justice, the Parole Commission, the State Courts

24  Administrator and circuit court administrators, the Department

25  of Law Enforcement, and every sheriff's department, police

26  department, or other law enforcement agency as defined in s.

27  943.10(4) shall develop and implement guidelines for the use

28  of their respective agencies, which guidelines are consistent

29  with the purposes of this act and s. 16(b), Art. I of the

30  State Constitution and are designed to implement the

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CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.






    Florida House of Representatives - 1998             CS/HB 3539

    180-405-98






  1  provisions of s. 16(b), Art. I of the State Constitution and

  2  to achieve the following objectives:

  3         (p)  Information concerning escape from a state

  4  correctional institution, private correctional facility,

  5  county jail, juvenile detention facility, or residential

  6  commitment facility.--In any case where an offender escapes

  7  from a state correctional institution, private correctional

  8  facility, county jail, juvenile detention facility, or

  9  residential commitment facility, immediate notification shall

10  be made by the institution of confinement shall immediately

11  notify to the state attorney of the jurisdiction where the

12  criminal charge or petition for delinquency arose.  The state

13  attorney shall thereupon make every effort to notify the

14  victim, material witness, parents or legal guardian of a minor

15  who is a victim or witness, or immediate relatives of a

16  homicide victim of the escapee.  The state attorney shall also

17  notify the judge who imposed the sentence of incarceration and

18  the sheriff of the county where the criminal charge or

19  petition for delinquency arose.  The sheriff shall offer

20  assistance upon request. Both when an escaped offender is

21  subsequently captured and when the escaped offender is

22  returned to the institution of confinement, the institution of

23  confinement shall again immediately notify the appropriate

24  state attorney pursuant to this section.

25         Section 2.  This act shall take effect upon becoming a

26  law.

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