19.2-81.2 - Power of correctional officers and designated noncustodial employees to detain. - Virginia Statutes

§ 19.2-81.2. Power of correctional officers and designated noncustodialemployees to detain.

A. A correctional officer, as defined in § 53.1-1, who has completed theminimum training standards established by the Department of Criminal JusticeServices, or other noncustodial employee of the Department of Corrections whohas been designated to carry a weapon by the Director of the Department ofCorrections pursuant to § 53.1-29 of the Code and who has completed the basiccourse in detention training as approved by the Department of CriminalJustice Services, may, while on duty in or on the grounds of a correctionalinstitution, or with custody of prisoners without the confines of acorrectional institution, detain any person whom he has reasonable suspicionto believe has committed a violation of §§ 18.2-473 through 18.2-475, or ofaiding or abetting a prisoner in violating the provisions of § 53.1-203. Suchdetention shall be for the purpose of summoning a law-enforcement officer inorder that the law-enforcement officer can arrest the person who is allegedto have violated any of the above sections.

B. Any employee of the Department of Corrections having the authority todetain any person pursuant to subsection A hereof shall not be held civillyliable for unlawful detention, slander, malicious prosecution, falseimprisonment, false arrest, or assault and battery of the person so detained,whether such detention takes place within or without the grounds of acorrectional institution, provided that, in causing the detention of suchperson, the employee had at the time of the detention reasonable suspicion tobelieve that the person committed a violation for which the detention wasundertaken.

C. It is the purpose and intent of this section to ensure that the safety,stability, welfare and security of correctional institutions be preservedinsofar as possible.

(1976, c. 740; 1979, c. 642; 1984, cc. 720, 779.)