Oregon Statutes 423.105 – Payment of inmate court-ordered financial obligations; rules
(1) As used in this section:
Terms Used In Oregon Statutes 423.105
- Attachment: A procedure by which a person's property is seized to pay judgments levied by the court.
- Garnishment: Generally, garnishment is a court proceeding in which a creditor asks a court to order a third party who owes money to the debtor or otherwise holds assets belonging to the debtor to turn over to the creditor any of the debtor
- judicial department: means the Supreme Court, the Court of Appeals, the Oregon Tax Court, the circuit courts and all administrative divisions of those courts, whether denominated as boards, commissions, committees or departments or by any other designation. See Oregon Statutes 174.113
- Obligation: An order placed, contract awarded, service received, or similar transaction during a given period that will require payments during the same or a future period.
- Person: includes individuals, corporations, associations, firms, partnerships, limited liability companies and joint stock companies. See Oregon Statutes 174.100
- Remainder: An interest in property that takes effect in the future at a specified time or after the occurrence of some event, such as the death of a life tenant.
- Restitution: The court-ordered payment of money by the defendant to the victim for damages caused by the criminal action.
- Trust account: A general term that covers all types of accounts in a trust department, such as estates, guardianships, and agencies. Source: OCC
- United States: includes territories, outlying possessions and the District of Columbia. See Oregon Statutes 174.100
(a) ‘Adult in custody’ means a person who is at least 18 years of age and in the physical custody of the Department of Corrections. ‘Adult in custody’ does not include:
(A) A person on leave from prison due to participation in an alternative incarceration program established under ORS § 421.504 or 421.506 or short-term transitional leave under ORS § 421.168.
(B) A person transferred into or out of department custody pursuant to an interstate corrections compact.
(C) A person in the physical custody of the Oregon Youth Authority.
(D) A person in the physical custody of a county jail or other county detention facility.
(b) ‘Collected moneys’ means moneys that have been collected from an adult in custody trust account by the Department of Corrections pursuant to this section.
(c) ‘Court-ordered financial obligation‘ means:
(A) A compensatory fine imposed pursuant to ORS § 137.101, an award of restitution as defined in ORS § 137.103 or any other fines, fees or court-appointed attorney fees imposed in a criminal action;
(B) A child support obligation;
(C) A civil judgment including a money award in which the Department of Justice is a judgment creditor; or
(D) A civil judgment including a money award entered against an adult in custody resulting from an action for the assault or battery of a Department of Corrections or Oregon Corrections Enterprises employee.
(d) ‘Criminal action’ has the meaning given that term in ORS § 131.005.
(e) ‘Eligible moneys’ means moneys deposited in an adult in custody trust account that are subject to collection under this section, including but not limited to adult in custody performance monetary awards and moneys received from family members or friends of the adult in custody. ‘Eligible moneys’ does not include protected moneys.
(f) ‘Protected moneys’ means moneys deposited in an adult in custody trust account that are not subject to collection under state or federal law or under this section including but not limited to:
(A) Disability benefits for veterans;
(B) Moneys received from a Native American tribe or tribal government;
(C) Moneys dedicated for medical, dental or optical expenses or emergency trips;
(D) Railroad retirement benefits; or
(E) Moneys paid as compensation to an adult in custody in a prison work program established under the Prison Industries Enhancement Certification Program, or a successor program designated by the United States Director of the Bureau of Justice Assistance pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 1761.
(2)(a) Notwithstanding ORS § 161.675, the Department of Corrections shall collect eligible moneys from an adult in custody trust account if the adult in custody owes court-ordered financial obligations as described in this section.
(b) Notwithstanding any other provision of this section, the department may deduct a fixed percentage of each adult in custody performance monetary award made to an adult in custody, to be credited to a general victims assistance fund, before crediting the remainder of the award to the adult in custody trust account.
(3)(a) The Judicial Department shall provide an accounting to the Department of Corrections of court-ordered financial obligations described in subsection (1)(c)(A) of this section, if any, owed by each adult in custody. The Department of Justice shall provide an accounting of court-ordered financial obligations described in subsection (1)(c)(B) and (C) of this section. The accounting records may be provided electronically in a format agreed upon by the departments.
(b) Upon receipt of the accounting records described in paragraph (a) of this subsection, the Department of Corrections shall collect a portion of eligible moneys from the adult in custody trust account of each adult in custody as follows:
(A) Until an adult in custody not sentenced to death or to life imprisonment without the possibility of release or parole has $500 in a transitional fund to facilitate reentry after release, 10 percent of eligible moneys shall be collected for court-ordered financial obligations and five percent of eligible moneys shall be collected and transferred to the transitional fund.
(B) After the adult in custody has at least $500 in the transitional fund, or if the adult in custody has been sentenced to death or to life imprisonment without the possibility of release or parole, the department shall collect 15 percent of eligible moneys for court-ordered financial obligations.
(C) After court-ordered financial obligations have been paid, an adult in custody not sentenced to death or to life imprisonment without the possibility of release or parole may elect to continue to transfer five percent of eligible moneys into the transitional fund.
(c) Notwithstanding ORS § 18.615 or any other provision of law, while moneys held in a transitional fund described in this subsection remain within the custody or control of the Department of Corrections, those moneys are neither assignable nor subject to execution, garnishment, attachment or any other process.
(4) There are four levels of priority for the application of collected moneys to court-ordered financial obligations, with Level I obligations having the highest priority and Level IV obligations having the lowest priority. The levels are as follows:
(a) Level I obligations are compensatory fines imposed pursuant to ORS § 137.101, awards of restitution defined in ORS § 137.103 and fines, fees or court-appointed attorney fees imposed in a criminal action.
(b) Level II obligations are civil judgments that include a money award in which the Department of Justice is a judgment creditor.
(c) Level III obligations are child support obligations.
(d) Level IV obligations are civil judgments including a money award entered against an adult in custody resulting from an action for the assault or battery of a Department of Corrections or Oregon Corrections Enterprises employee.
(5)(a) After receiving the accounting records described in subsection (3) of this section, the Department of Corrections shall disburse the collected moneys for court-ordered financial obligations to the Department of Justice and the Judicial Department, as appropriate.
(b) The Department of Justice and the Judicial Department shall apply the collected moneys received from the Department of Corrections under this subsection to the court-ordered financial obligations of an adult in custody according to the priority levels of the obligations.
(6)(a) The Department of Justice may create a subaccount in which to deposit the collected moneys received from the Department of Corrections under this section.
(b) The Judicial Department may create a subaccount in which to deposit the collected moneys received from the Department of Corrections under this section.
(c) The Department of Corrections may create subaccounts for the purposes of storing collected moneys prior to disbursement under this section.
(7) The Department of Corrections, the Department of Justice and the Judicial Department may adopt rules to implement this section. [2017 c.692 § 1; 2018 c.120 § 8; 2019 c.213 § 99; 2019 c.474 3a,3b; 2023 c.108 § 7]