§ 13-8-32. Community supervision. (a) Except as otherwise provided in this section, a person who has been placed on community supervision shall be subject to the provisions of law governing parole as if the person were a parolee. The parole board shall impose terms and conditions for the sentence within thirty (30) days of sentencing. The terms and conditions may be revised, altered, and amended by the parole board at any time.

(b) A person under community supervision shall be under the jurisdiction, supervision and control of the parole board in the same manner as a person under parole supervision. The board is authorized on an individual basis to establish any conditions of community supervision that may be necessary to ensure public safety, which may include protecting the public from a person committing a sex offense including child molestation or child kidnapping as well as promoting the rehabilitation of the person. The conditions shall include at the expense of the offender sex offender treatment with a recognized treatment provider in the field to be determined by the board for as long as the board deems necessary, and compliance with the requirements of chapter 37 of title 11.

(c) The board is authorized to impose and enforce a supervision fee, and rehabilitation fee upon a person on community supervision. To the extent possible the board shall set the fee in an amount that will substantially defray the cost of the community supervision program.

(d) The board shall also establish a fee waiver procedure for hardship cases and indigency.

(e) After a person sentenced to community supervision has been under supervision for a period of fifteen (15) years or any time after the person ceases to be a resident of the state, the person may petition the board for termination of community supervision. A petition for termination which is based upon the person no longer being a resident of Rhode Island shall be accompanied by an affidavit of the person attesting to his or her non-residency and providing his or her new out of state address. A petition for termination which is based upon the completion of fifteen (15) years of community supervision may only occur by a majority vote of all the members of the community supervision board. Termination may only occur by a majority vote of all the members. Upon receiving a petition for termination, the board shall, within sixty (60) days, conduct a hearing before the full membership. At least thirty (30) days prior to a hearing on the petition, the board shall cause a criminal history check to be conducted, and notify in writing the victims of the crime for which the sentence was imposed, the attorney general, and the chief of police or head of the organized police department of the municipality in which the crime was committed, and the chief of police or head of the organized police department of the municipality in which the person resides, of the person's petition for release from community supervision. Those officials and victims shall be provided the opportunity to respond to the petition. The officials and victims may appear in person or be represented or make written recommendations to the board, but failure of any or all of the officials to appear or make recommendations shall not delay the termination procedure.

(f) If a victim is deceased at the time the termination hearing is scheduled the deceased victim may be represented by his relatives in the following order: mother, father, spouse, child, grandchild, brother or sister, niece or nephew.

(g) Prior to the hearing, the petitioner shall be examined, personally interviewed and evaluated by a psychiatrist or licensed psychologist, who is an expert in the field of sex offender treatment and approved by the board. The psychiatrist or psychologist shall file written reports with the board of his or her examinations and diagnoses, and his or her recommendation for the disposition of the person. The petitioner's treatment while on community supervision shall be examined and considered by the psychiatrist or psychologist in the recommendation. The reports shall be admissible in a hearing pursuant to this section. If the person refuses, without good cause, to be personally interviewed by the psychiatrist or psychologist, the person shall be deemed to have waived his or her right to a hearing on the petition, and the petition shall be dismissed by the board. The cost of the examination and evaluation shall be the responsibility of the person petitioning for release from supervision; provided, that procedures shall be established for cases of hardship or indigency.

(h) At the hearing, the board shall call any witnesses that it deems necessary, including the examining psychiatrist or psychologist, the attorney general, the police chief or the victims of the crime or his or her family member, as the board deems necessary. The petitioner may offer any witnesses and other proof at the hearing that is relevant to the petition.

(i) The board shall terminate community supervision if the petitioner demonstrates, by clear and convincing evidence, that he or she has not committed a sex offense of child kidnapping since his or her conviction, that he or she is not likely to pose a threat to the safety of others, and that the public interest is not served by further community supervision.

(j) If a petition for release from supervision is denied by the board, the person may not file another petition for a period of three (3) years.

History of Section. (P.L. 1998, ch. 375, § 1; P.L. 2006, ch. 206, § 5; P.L. 2006, ch. 207, § 5.)