HARRY HUGHES, Governor

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centers had the effect of extending the 18-month limitation on
sentences to regional detention centers to single county
facilities as well.

At the suggestion of the Division of Correction, the House
Judiciary Committee amended the bill to raise the minimum
sentence to the Division so that all prisoners sentenced to one
year or less would be sent to local detention centers. That
increase was to be phased in over four years. The amendments
also provided that the State would reimburse the local
jurisdictions for the time between three months and one year that
a prisoner sentenced between three and eighteen months spent in a
local detention center.

On the Senate side, the Judicial Proceedings Committee
introduced amendments based on those suggested by Baltimore City.
Under those amendments, if the State did not provide 100% of the
funds for certain new facilities in Baltimore City and Baltimore
County by July 1, 1986, then any prisoners sentenced to one of
those jurisdictions for more than six months whose confinement
would cause the rated capacity of the existing facilities to be
exceeded would be transferred to the Division. This provision
was apparently keyed to paragraph (c)(1), which provides that as
of July 1, 1986, no sentence to the jurisdiction of the Division
could be for six months or less.

However, the Judicial Proceedings Committee amendments were
withdrawn and amendments prepared by the Senate Budget and
Taxation Committee were substituted. The new amendments differed
from the Judicial Proceedings Committee amendments in a number of
respects. First, they applied to all counties, not just to
Baltimore City and Baltimore County. Second, they created a
procedure and standards for State-financed local facilities made
necessary by the bill. Finally, the new amendments provided for
transfer of "prisoners sentenced under subsection (c)" 2/ if
their confinement would cause the rated capacity of the local
detention center to be exceeded.

A question has arisen with respect to the interpretation of
the words "prisoners sentenced under subsection (c)." 3/ The
question is of some importance because at least one local
detention center is now operating at or over its rated capacity
and could be in a position to transfer any prisoners allowed by
this provision to be transferred to the jurisdiction of the
Division. While the matter is not free from doubt, it is our
view that this provision will have the effect of overriding the
phase-in of higher minimum sentences to the Division in
jurisdictions where existing facilities are at their rated
capacity.

Subsection (c) contains three paragraphs. The first sets
the minimum sentences for the Division of Correction, thus by
implication designating some sentences which must be directed to
local detention centers. The second provides for reimbursement