2023 Utah Code › Title 64 - State Institutions › Chapter 13 - Department of Corrections - State Prison › Section 6 - Department duties.

Effective 5/3/2023
64-13-6.
Department duties.
(1) The department shall:
(a) protect the public through institutional care and confinement, and supervision in the community of offenders where appropriate;
(b) implement court-ordered punishment of offenders;
(c) provide evidence-based and evidence-informed program opportunities for offenders designed to reduce offenders' criminogenic and recidivism risks, including behavioral, cognitive, educational, and career-readiness program opportunities;
(d) ensure that offender participation in all program opportunities described in Subsection (1)(c) is voluntary;
(e) where appropriate, utilize offender volunteers as mentors in the program opportunities described in Subsection (1)(c);
(f) provide treatment for sex offenders who are found to be treatable based upon criteria developed by the department;
(g) provide the results of ongoing clinical assessment of sex offenders and objective diagnostic testing to sentencing and release authorities;
(h) manage programs that take into account the needs and interests of victims, where reasonable;
(i) supervise probationers and parolees as directed by statute and implemented by the courts and the Board of Pardons and Parole;
(j) subject to Subsection (2), investigate criminal conduct involving offenders incarcerated in a state correctional facility;
(k) cooperate and exchange information with other state, local, and federal law enforcement agencies to achieve greater success in prevention and detection of crime and apprehension of criminals;
(l) implement the provisions of Title 77, Chapter 28c, Interstate Compact for Adult Offender Supervision;
(m) establish a case action plan based on appropriate validated risk, needs, and responsivity assessments for each offender as follows:
(i)
(A) if an offender is to be supervised in the community, the department shall establish a case action plan for the offender no later than 60 days after the day on which the department's community supervision of the offender begins; and
(B) if the offender is committed to the custody of the department, the department shall establish a case action plan for the offender no later than 90 days after the day on which the offender is committed to the custody of the department;
(ii) each case action plan shall integrate an individualized, evidence-based, and evidence-informed treatment and program plan with clearly defined completion requirements;
(iii) the department shall share each newly established case action plan with the sentencing and release authority within 30 days after the day on which the case action plan is established; and
(iv) the department shall share any changes to a case action plan, including any change in an offender's risk assessment, with the sentencing and release authority within 30 days after the day of the change;
(n) ensure that any training or certification required of a public official or public employee, as those terms are defined in Section 63G-22-102, complies with Title 63G, Chapter 22, State Training and Certification Requirements, if the training or certification is required:
(i) under this title;
(ii) by the department; or
(iii) by an agency or division within the department; and
(o) when reporting on statewide recidivism, include the metrics and requirements described in Section 63M-7-102.
(2) The department may in the course of supervising probationers and parolees:
(a) respond in accordance with the graduated and evidence-based processes established by the Utah Sentencing Commission under Subsection 63M-7-404(6), to an individual's violation of one or more terms of the probation or parole; and
(b) upon approval by the court or the Board of Pardons and Parole, impose as a sanction for an individual's violation of the terms of probation or parole a period of incarceration of not more than three consecutive days and not more than a total of five days within a period of 30 days.
(3)
(a) By following the procedures in Subsection (3)(b), the department may investigate the following occurrences at state correctional facilities:
(i) criminal conduct of departmental employees;
(ii) felony crimes resulting in serious bodily injury;
(iii) death of any person; or
(iv) aggravated kidnaping.
(b) Before investigating any occurrence specified in Subsection (3)(a), the department shall:
(i) notify the sheriff or other appropriate law enforcement agency promptly after ascertaining facts sufficient to believe an occurrence specified in Subsection (3)(a) has occurred; and
(ii) obtain consent of the sheriff or other appropriate law enforcement agency to conduct an investigation involving an occurrence specified in Subsection (3)(a).
(4) Upon request, the department shall provide copies of investigative reports of criminal conduct to the sheriff or other appropriate law enforcement agencies.
(5)
(a) The executive director of the department, or the executive director's designee if the designee possesses expertise in correctional programming, shall consult at least annually with cognitive and career-readiness staff experts from the Utah system of higher education and the State Board of Education to review the department's evidence-based and evidence-informed treatment and program opportunities.
(b) Beginning in the 2022 interim, the department shall provide an annual report to the Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice Interim Committee regarding the department's implementation of and offender participation in evidence-based and evidence-informed treatment and program opportunities designed to reduce the criminogenic and recidivism risks of offenders over time.
(6)
(a) As used in this Subsection (6):
(i) "Accounts receivable" means any amount owed by an offender arising from a criminal judgment that has not been paid.
(ii) "Accounts receivable" includes unpaid fees, overpayments, fines, forfeitures, surcharges, costs, interest, penalties, restitution to victims, third-party claims, claims, reimbursement of a reward, and damages that an offender is ordered to pay.
(b) The department shall collect and disburse, with any interest and any other costs assessed under Section 64-13-21, an accounts receivable for an offender during:
(i) the parole period and any extension of that period in accordance with Subsection (6)(c); and
(ii) the probation period for which the court orders supervised probation and any extension of that period by the department in accordance with Subsection 77-18-105(7).
(c)
(i) If an offender has an unpaid balance of the offender's accounts receivable at the time that the offender's sentence expires or terminates, the department shall be referred to the sentencing court for the sentencing court to enter a civil judgment of restitution and a civil accounts receivable as described in Section 77-18-114.
(ii) If the board makes an order for restitution within 60 days from the day on which the offender's sentence expires or terminates, the board shall refer the order for restitution to the sentencing court to be entered as a civil judgment of restitution as described in Section 77-18-114.
(d) This Subsection (6) only applies to offenders sentenced before July 1, 2021.
Amended by Chapter 177, 2023 General Session