When must the Virginia Compensation Board start paying local jails back for medical costs of state-responsible inmates?

Plain-English summary

Richmond Sheriff C.T. Woody asked whether the Virginia Compensation Board had to reimburse local jails for unbudgeted medical costs of "State Responsible" inmates who were still being held in local custody, and starting when. The Board's policy manual at the time provided reimbursement only after an inmate had been past the final sentence date by 90 days.

The AG concluded the Board's 90-day rule was inconsistent with § 53.1-20.1, which made the Department of Corrections financially responsible for state-responsible inmates "beginning on the sixty-first day following the date of mailing by certified letter or electronic transmittal by the clerk of the committing court to the Director of the final order." Because state agencies cannot adopt policies that conflict with their authorizing statute (Manassas Autocars, Inc. v. Couch, 274 Va. 82, 87 (2007)), the Board was required to reimburse medical costs starting on the 61st day, leaving the local jail responsible for medical costs only for the first 60 days.

Currency note

This opinion was issued in 2016. Subsequent statutory amendments, court decisions, or later AG opinions may have changed the analysis. Treat this page as historical context, not current legal advice. Verify current law before relying on any specific rule, deadline, or remedy mentioned here.

Anyone working in jail-funding or sheriff's-office finance today should check whether § 53.1-20.1 and the current general appropriations act still preserve the 61-day trigger, and whether the Compensation Board's policy manual has been updated to match.

Background and statutory framework

The constitutional baseline came from Estelle v. Gamble, 429 U.S. 97 (1976): prisoners have an Eighth Amendment right to adequate medical care. Virginia law parallels that requirement. Section 53.1-126 makes sheriffs and jail superintendents responsible for providing necessary medical services to inmates in local custody; § 53.1-32(A) imposes a parallel obligation on the state for prisoners committed or transferred to state facilities. The 6 Va. Admin. Code §§ 15-40-320 to 520 set out standards.

Two statutes governed how a state-responsible inmate ends up in a local jail. Section 53.1-21 lets the Department of Corrections direct certain transfers between facilities. Section 53.1-20 generally requires a convicted person sentenced to a state facility to be transferred into the state system within 60 days of the committing court mailing or transmitting the final sentencing order, subject to the Governor's authority to restrict state admissions in the event of a threat to public safety.

The compensation rule came from § 53.1-20.1. Where the Department was unable to accommodate a convicted felon in a state facility, the Department was required to "compensate local jails for the cost of incarceration as provided for in the general appropriation act beginning on the sixty-first day following the date of mailing by certified letter or electronic transmittal by the clerk of the committing court to the Director of the final order." The 2014 Budget Appropriations Act (H.B. 29 and H.B. 30) implemented the compensation framework, including funding for unbudgeted medical costs for state-responsible inmates.

The Compensation Board's policy manual (CB Form-20) said reimbursement began only on the 91st day after final sentence date. That conflicted with the statute's 61-day trigger. Under § 1-248 and the Manassas Autocars line of authority, a state agency cannot adopt a policy inconsistent with the statute. The AG concluded the 60-day allocation of medical-cost responsibility to local jails was correct; everything from day 61 forward fell on the state.

Common questions

Q: When does the state's reimbursement obligation begin?
A: Per § 53.1-20.1, on the 61st day after the clerk of the committing court mails or electronically transmits the final sentencing order to the Director of the Department of Corrections.

Q: Who pays the inmate's medical costs in those first 60 days?
A: Under the AG's analysis, the local jail. After that, the state, through the Compensation Board's reimbursement mechanism funded in the general appropriations act.

Q: What does "State Responsible Inmate" mean for these purposes?
A: The 2014 Budget Appropriations Act defined the term to include felony offenders whose effective consecutive sentences exceeded specified thresholds (more than 12 months or one year or more, depending on offense date relative to January 1, 1995).

Q: Can the Compensation Board's policy manual override the statute?
A: No. The AG cited the well-settled rule from Manassas Autocars, Inc. v. Couch, 274 Va. 82, 87 (2007), that agency regulations cannot conflict with the authorizing statute. The policy had to give way.

Citations and references

Statutes:
- Va. Code Ann. § 53.1-20 (transfer of convicted felons to state custody)
- Va. Code Ann. § 53.1-20.1 (state compensation to local jails)
- Va. Code Ann. § 53.1-21 (inter-facility transfers)
- Va. Code Ann. § 53.1-32(A) (state-facility medical care)
- Va. Code Ann. § 53.1-126 (local-facility medical care)
- Va. Code Ann. § 1-248 (state ordinances and rules cannot conflict with state law)
- Va. Code Ann. § 2.2-505 (AG advisory opinion authority)
- H.B. 29 and H.B. 30, 2014 Reg. Sess. (Budget Appropriations Act)
- 6 Va. Admin. Code §§ 15-40-320 to 520

Cases:
- Estelle v. Gamble, 429 U.S. 97 (1976)
- Jackson v. Wiley, 352 F. Supp. 2d 666 (E.D. Va. 2004)
- Manassas Autocars, Inc. v. Couch, 274 Va. 82 (2007)

Attorney General opinions:
- 1988 Op. Va. Att'y Gen. 469
- 1986-87 Op. Va. Att'y Gen. 255

Source

• Landing page: https://www.oag.state.va.us/annual-reports-opinions/official-opinions
• Original PDF: https://www.oag.state.va.us/files/Opinions/2016/15-079-Woody-issued.pdf

Original opinion text

COMMONWEALTH of VIRGINIA
Office of the Attorney General
Mark R. Herring
Attorney General

September 1, 2016

The Honorable C.T. Woody, Jr.
Sheriff, City of Richmond
1701 Fairfield Way
Richmond, Virginia 23223

Dear Sheriff Woody:

I am responding to your request for an official advisory Opinion in accordance with § 2.2-505 of the Code of Virginia.

Issue Presented

You ask whether the Virginia Compensation Board (the "Compensation Board") must reimburse sheriffs, jail superintendents, or localities for unbudgeted medical costs of inmates who are "State Responsible" as defined in the Budget Appropriations Act. You ask this question because the Compensation Board's Policy and Procedure Manual provides that the Compensation Board will only reimburse the medical costs for inmates who are "State Responsible" and more than ninety days past their final sentence date. [1]

Applicable Law and Discussion

All correctional facilities, whether local or state, must provide medical care for inmates in accordance with law. [2] For local inmates, § 53.1-126 of the Code of Virginia requires sheriffs and jail superintendents to provide necessary medical services to inmates. [3] For state inmates, § 53.1-32(A) similarly requires state correctional facilities "to provide . . . medical . . . care and treatment" for "prisoners committed or transferred thereto." [4] These are costs of incarceration.

There are two circumstances under which a state inmate may be housed in a local correctional facility. First, § 53.1-21 of the Code allows for certain inmates who are confined in a state or local correctional facility to be transferred to another state or local correctional facility upon the direction of the Director of the Department of Corrections. [5] Second, § 53.1-20 provides that a convicted person who is to be confined in a state facility is to be transferred to the state system within sixty days of transmission of the final sentencing order to the Director of the Department of Corrections, [6] subject to the ability of the Governor to restrict admission to the state system in the event of a threat to public safety. [7]

Section 53.1-20.1 requires the Department of Corrections to compensate local jails for the cost of incarceration "as provided in the general appropriation act," and it fixes a specific time at which that financial responsibility begins:

If the Director [of the Department of Corrections] is unable to accommodate in a state correctional facility any convicted felon sentenced to the Department for a felony committed before January 1, 1995, whose sentence totals more than two years or who is convicted of a felony committed on or after January 1, 1995, and who is required to serve a total period of one year or more in a state correctional facility, the Department of Corrections shall compensate local jails for the cost of incarceration as provided for in the general appropriation act beginning on the sixty-first day following the date of mailing by certified letter or electronic transmittal by the clerk of the committing court to the Director of the final order. [8]

The general appropriations act, [9] in turn, provides funding for the state to compensate localities for unbudgeted medical costs incurred by local correctional facilities for state-responsible inmates. [10]

In summary, § 53.1-20.1 imposes financial responsibility on the state beginning "on the sixty-first day" following transmission of the commitment order, thus making the local jail responsible for medical costs for the first sixty days. The Compensation Board's policy of imposing that responsibility on the state beginning on the ninety-first day, thus making the local jail responsible for medical costs for the first ninety days, is inconsistent with this statute. A state agency has no authority to adopt a policy inconsistent with a statute. [11]

Conclusion

For the foregoing reasons, it is my opinion that the Compensation Board is required to reimburse local correctional facilities for the medical costs of all inmates who are "State Responsible" while those inmates are in the temporary custody of a local correctional facility, beginning on the sixty-first day after notice of the commitment order is provided.

With kindest regards, I am

Very truly yours,

Mark R. Herring
Attorney General

[1] COMPENSATION BOARD POLICY & PROCEDURE MANUAL, CB Form-20 (2014).

[2] See generally Estelle v. Gamble, 429 U.S. 97, 104-105 (1976) (holding that prisoners have a constitutional right under the Eighth Amendment to adequate medical care and treatment); Jackson v. Wiley, 352 F. Supp. 2d 666, 675 (E.D. Va. 2004).

[3] 1988 Op. Va. Att'y Gen. 469, 471 (citing 1986-87 Op. Va. Att'y Gen. 255); see also 6 VA. ADMIN. CODE §§ 15-40-320 to 520.

[4] VA. CODE ANN. § 53.1-32(A) (2013).

[5] VA. CODE ANN. § 53.1-21 (2013).

[6] "Persons convicted of felonies committed on or after January 1, 1995, and sentenced to the Department or sentenced to confinement in jail for a year or more shall be placed in the custody of the Department and received by the Director into the state corrections system within sixty days of the date on which the final sentencing order is mailed by certified letter or sent by electronic transmission to the Director by the clerk." VA. CODE ANN. § 53.1-20(B) (2013).

[7] "If the Governor finds that the number of prisoners in state facilities poses a threat to public safety, it shall be within the discretion of the Director to determine the priority for receiving prisoners into the state corrections system from local correctional facilities." VA. CODE ANN. § 53.1-20(C).

[8] (Emphasis added.)

[9] The official title of this act is the Budget Appropriations Act.

[10] H.B. 29, 2014 Reg. Sess. (2014); H.B. 30, 2014 Reg. Sess. (2014). The Appropriations Act defines "State Responsible Inmate" as "any person convicted of one or more felony offenses and (a) the sum of consecutive effective sentences for felonies, committed on or after January 1, 1995, is (i) more than 12 months or (ii) one year or more, or (b) the sum of consecutive effective felonies, committed before January 1, 1995, is more than two years." H.B. 29, 2014 Reg. Sess. (2014); H.B. 30, 2014 Reg. Sess. (2014).

[11] "Any ordinance, resolution, bylaw, rule, regulation, or order of any governing body or corporation, board, or number of persons shall not be inconsistent with the Constitution and laws of the United States or of this Commonwealth." VA. CODE ANN. § 1-248 (2014). "Regulations [of state agencies] ... may not conflict with the authorizing statute." Manassas Autocars, Inc. v. Couch, 274 Va. 82, 87 (2007).