Legislative intent of a 1997 law has not always been followed when an inmate assaults a correctional officer.
Rep. Steve Smith (R-Mound) is trying to make the law even more clear with
HF439.
Heard March 15 by the House Public Safety and Crime Prevention Policy and Finance Committee, the bill was held over for possible omnibus bill inclusion. It has no Senate companion.
Smith said the intent of the Legislature was that a prisoner sentenced for assaulting a correctional officer would serve their time consecutively, not concurrently. “In some of the cases, the courts were simply ignoring the legislative intent, ignoring the statute and imposing the time concurrently.”
To rectify the situation the statute would be changed to say “shall run consecutively, not concurrently.”
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