INDIANA – The Senate Corrections and Criminal Law Committee heard Senate Bill 179 on Friday on home detention authored by Senator Eric Koch.
The bill provides that a court may not order a person convicted of a Level 1 felony or a crime subject to certain enhancement; to a community corrections program and allows a court to place a person in a community corrections program as an alternative to commitment to the county jail or department of correction.
The bill repeals a requirement that a court suspends the sentence for a person placed in a community corrections program.
The bill also specifies that a person sentenced to work release in a community corrections program receives one day of accrued time for each day the person is confined on work release. Current law only specifies that a person on home detention earns accrued time.
The bill was amended by consent to add that a person who violates a home detention placement term as a part of a community corrections program commits escape.
The Indiana Public Defender Council testified in support of the bill. The amended bill passed 7-0.
Read the bill at: https://iga.in.gov/legislative/2023/bills/senate/179.
