A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT to require restitution for inmates with work‑release privileges and to provide that at least twenty percent of an inmate's work‑release earnings shall be used to fulfill the inmate's restitution obligation.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1.  G.S. 148‑33.2 reads as rewritten:
"§ 148‑33.2.  Restitution by prisoners with work‑release privileges.
(a)	Repealed by Session Laws 1985, c. 474, s. 4.
(b)	As a rehabilitative measure, the Secretary of the Department of Correction  shall require any prisoner granted work‑release privileges to make restitution or reparation to an aggrieved party from any earnings gained by the defendant while on work release when the sentencing court  orders that restitution or reparation be paid by the defendant out of any earnings gained by the defendant if he is granted work‑release privileges and out of other resources of the defendant, including all real and personal property owned by the defendant and the income derived from such property.  If the court has ordered a defendant to make restitution or reparation if granted work-release privileges, then at least twenty percent (20%) of the prisoner's work-release earnings shall be used to fulfill that obligation. If restitution to a particular victim or victims was not ordered by the court, or if court-ordered restitution to a particular victim or victims has been satisfied, then the twenty percent (20%) required by this section shall be paid into the Crime Victims Compensation Fund established pursuant to G.S. 15B-23.
(c)	When an active sentence is imposed, unless the court finds that it would not be in the interest of justice to do so, the court shall  order that restitution or reparation be made by the defendant out of any earnings gained by the defendant if he is granted work‑release privileges and out of other resources of the defendant, including all real and personal property owned by the defendant, and income derived from such property.  The court shall make its  order a part of the order committing the defendant to custody. The  order shall be in accordance with the applicable provisions of G.S. 15A‑1343(d) and Article 81C of Chapter 15A of the General Statutes. If the offense is one in which there is evidence of physical, mental or sexual abuse of a minor, the court  shall order the defendant to pay from work release earnings the cost of rehabilitative treatment for the minor. The Administrative Office of the Courts shall prepare and distribute forms  that provide ample space to make restitution or reparation  orders incident to commitments.
(d)	The Secretary of the Department of Correction shall establish rules and regulations to implement this section, which shall include adequate notice to the prisoner that the payment of restitution or reparation from any earnings gained by the prisoner while on work release is  required as a condition of any work‑release privileges granted the prisoner, and opportunity for the prisoner to be heard. Such rules and regulations shall also provide additional methods whereby facts may be obtained to supplement the  order of the sentencing court."
SECTION 2.  This act becomes effective December 1, 2003, and applies to persons sentenced on or after that date.