SENATE LAW AND PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTEE

STATEMENT TO

SENATE COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR

SENATE, No. 1418

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

DATED: MARCH 3, 1997

      The Senate Law and Public Safety Committee reports favorably a Senate Committee Substitute for Senate Bill No. 1418.

      This committee substitute amends N.J.S.2C:47-4 to direct the Commissioner of Corrections to transfer certain inmates from the Adult Diagnostic and Treatment Center (ADTC) into the general prison populations of other State correctional facilities.

      Under the provisions of the committee substitute, the commissioner is directed to transfer those ADTC inmates who (1) are serving life sentences without possibility of parole and (2) are not participating or cooperating in an ADTC treatment program.

      The substitute also specifies that those ADTC inmates who are transferred either under the general discretionary powers of the commissioner or because they are serving life sentences without possibility of parole are no longer to be governed by the special conditions of confinement, parole and release set forth in chapter 47 of Title 2C of the New Jersey Statutes, but rather those conditions applicable to the general State prison population.

      Inmates transferred for refusing to participate in a treatment program would remain subject to the special conditions of confinement, parole and release set forth in chapter 47 of Title 2C of the New Jersey Statutes.

      The provisions of the committee substitute also authorize the commissioner to return to the ADTC any inmate who has been transferred out of that facility for refusing to participate in a treatment program if the commissioner determines that, henceforth, the inmate is likely to fully cooperate in receiving treatment.

      In its present form, N.J.S.2C:47-4 accords the Commissioner of Corrections discretionary authority to transfer inmates from the ADTC to other State correctional facilities. The statute further provides that inmates so transferred are no longer subject to the special conditions of confinement, parole and release set forth in chapter 47 or Title 2C of the New Jersey Statutes, but rather the general conditions of confinement, parole and release applicable to all State prisoners.

      This committee substitute originates from the findings of the Joint Legislative Task Force to Study the ADTC. As released by the committee, the substitute is identical to the Assembly Committee Substitute for Assembly Bill No. 1526.