§ 12-27-113 - Commitments to the Department of Correction -- Records. - Arkansas Statutes

12-27-113. Commitments to the Department of Correction -- Records.

(a) (1) All commitments to the Department of Correction shall be to the Department of Correction and not to a particular institution.

(2) Commitments may provide for judicial transfer to the Department of Community Correction.

(b) (1) The Director of the Department of Correction, in accordance with the rules, procedures, and regulations promulgated by the Board of Corrections shall transfer an inmate to the Department of Community Correction, pursuant to a judicial transfer, or assign a newly committed inmate to an appropriate facility of the Department of Correction.

(2) The director may transfer an inmate from one (1) facility to another consistent with the commitment and in accordance with treatment, training, and security needs.

(3) Inmates may be transferred between the Department of Correction and the Department of Community Correction within the constraints of law applicable to judicial transfer, subject to the policies, rules, and regulations established by the Board of Corrections, and conditions set by the Parole Board.

(4) The Department of Correction shall retain legal custody of all inmates transferred to community correction unless altered by court order.

(c) (1) When a prisoner is committed to the Department of Correction, his or her commitment papers must include a report on the circumstances attending the offense, particularly such circumstances as tend to aggravate or extenuate the offense, which report shall be kept in the permanent file of such prisoner.

(2) The report shall be prepared by the prosecutor or deputy prosecutor who represented the state in the proceeding against the prisoner. The report shall be approved by the sentencing judge.

(d) (1) It shall be the duty of the Department of Correction to transport all inmates committed to the Department of Correction to their respective institutions.

(2) It shall be the duty of every county sheriff within the State of Arkansas to notify the director of the number of persons in his or her charge who are under commitment to the Department of Correction, and it shall be the duty of the director to send for, take charge of, and safely transport, free of charge, the convicted persons to the assigned institution of the Department of Correction as determined by the director.

(3) However, if the county sheriff of any county, in his or her discretion, determines it would be in the best interest of the prisoner and the public to immediately transport the convicted person to the Department of Correction, the county sheriff may transport the person, and the county sheriff shall be entitled therefor to the fees provided by law.

(e) (1) The director shall make and preserve a full and complete record of each and every person committed to the Department of Correction, along with a photograph of the person and data pertaining to his or her trial conviction and past history.

(2) (A) To protect the integrity of those records and to ensure their proper use, it shall be unlawful to permit inspection of or disclose information contained in those records or to copy or issue a copy of all or part of any record except as authorized by administrative regulation or by order of a court of competent jurisdiction.

(B) The regulations shall provide for adequate standards of security and confidentiality of those records.

(3) For those inmates committed to the Department of Correction and judicially transferred to the Department of Community Correction, the preparation of this record may be delegated to the Department of Community Correction pursuant to policies applicable to records transmission adopted by the Board of Corrections.

(4) Administrative regulations may authorize the disclosure of information contained in such records for research purposes.