Authority: §§ 53.1-1, 53.1-5, 53.1-8, and 53.1-10, Code of Virginia.

A. Included in this appropriation is $725,000 in the first year and $725,000 the second year from nongeneral funds for the purposes listed below. The source of the funds is commissions generated by prison commissary operations:

1. $150,000 the first year and $150,000 the second year for Assisting Families of Inmates, Inc., to provide transportation for family members to visit offenders in prison and other ancillary services to family members;

2. $600,000 the first year and $600,000 the second year for distribution to organizations that work to enhance faith-based services to inmates; and

3. $75,000 the first year and $75,000 the second year for the Save Our Shelters “Pen Pals” program.

B.1. The Department of Corrections is authorized to contract with other governmental entities to house male and female prisoners from those jurisdictions in facilities operated by the department.

2. The State Comptroller shall continue the Contract Prisoners Special Revenue Fund on the Commonwealth Accounting and Reporting System to reflect the activities of contracts between the Commonwealth of Virginia and other governmental entities for the housing of prisoners in facilities operated by the Virginia Department of Corrections.

3. Included in the appropriation for this Item is $19,249,140 the first year and $19,249,140 the second year from the Fund.  The Director, Department of Planning and Budget, is authorized to increase this appropriation to support non-recurring expenditures of the Department of Corrections.

C. The Department of Corrections may enter into agreements with local and regional jails to house state-responsible offenders in such facilities and to effect transfers of convicted state felons between and among such jails. Such agreements shall be governed by the provisions of Item 70 of this act.

D. To the extent that the Department of Corrections privatizes food services, the Department shall also seek to maximize agribusiness operations.

E. Notwithstanding the provisions of § 53.1-45, Code of Virginia, the Department of Corrections is authorized to sell on the open market and through the Virginia Farmers' Market Network any dairy, animal, or farm products of which the Commonwealth imports more than it exports.

F. The Department of Corrections shall administer a STATIC-99 screening to all potential sexually violent predators eligible for civil commitment pursuant to § 37.2-900 et. seq., Code of Virginia, within six months of their admission to the custody of the department.  The results of such screenings shall be provided monthly to the Commissioner of the Department of Mental Health, Mental Retardation and Substance Abuse Services.

G. The Department of Corrections, the Department of Correctional Education, and Liberty University shall develop a Memorandum of Agreement for the provision of either a secured on-line or self-contained computer-based program by Liberty University for the provision of post-secondary instruction to offenders to improve their ability to reenter society successfully upon their release from prison. Following the approval of and based upon this Memorandum of Agreement, this program of instruction shall be established on a pilot basis at Green Rock Correctional Center using computer equipment and program content provided by Liberty University, beginning no later than November 1, 2008, and operating for no fewer than three semesters, unless security requirements dictate otherwise. The Departments of Corrections and Correctional Education shall provide a report on the implementation of this program by June 30, 2010, to the Chairmen of the House Appropriations and Senate Finance Committees. The report shall include, but not be limited to, the types of offenders participating in this program, the educational progress that has been made by the participants, post-secondary credits which the participants may have earned, disciplinary actions taken against program participants, and whether such a program can or should be replicated for use in other correctional facilities.