Ley 39 del 2007
Resumen
Esta ley enmienda la Ley Orgánica de la Administración de Corrección para establecer el Programa de Alerta Ciudadana sobre la Fuga o Evasión de Confinados Peligrosos. El programa busca informar a la ciudadanía a través de los medios de comunicación sobre la fuga de reclusos peligrosos, con el fin de facilitar su pronta captura y aumentar la seguridad pública. Se establecen criterios para activar la alerta, la información a difundir y la coordinación con la Policía de Puerto Rico y los medios de comunicación.
Contenido
(No. 39)
(Approved May 1, 2007)
AN ACT
To add a new subsection
(v) to Section 5 of Act No. 116 of July 22, 1974, as amended, known as the "Organic Act of the Corrections Administration," in order to include among the duties and powers of the Administration the creation of the Citizens Alert Program on the Escape or Breakout of Dangerous Inmates for the purpose of informing the people through the communications media about the escape or breakout of inmates from prison; and for other purposes.
STATEMENT OF MOTIVES
The Legislature has the ministerial duty of looking after the safety of the citizens. That is why we give the Corrections Administration the task of creating a citizens alert program to inform the people, through the communications media, about the escape or breakout of dangerous prisoners from their penal institutions.
The purpose of said program is to immediately alert the community, through the transmission of information bulletins promulgated through the communications media, the Corrections Administration and the Puerto Rico Police. Thus, we provide an additional tool for the safety and protection of our people.
This program also intends to foster the effective communication among the Corrections Administration, the Puerto Rico Police and the news
media, as well as to send a powerful message to potential fugitives from justice as to the fact that the community shall be cooperating to ensure and foster their prompt capture.
When a dangerous inmate escapes, the authorities shall use a plan similar to the Amber Alert Plan, which informs the citizens about the kidnapping of a child, to rapidly broadcast critical information through radio and television stations and other participating communications media about the fugitive and the perpetrated breakout.
Concerning the participation of the communications media, it is important to make clear that their participation is on a voluntary basis and that therefore this legislation does not in the least pretend to impose obligations or responsibilities which a particular means of communication would not wish to exercise. Their participation must be considered as a public service.
In seeking to improve the quality of live, this Legislature becomes the echo to the claim of its people to fight crime. The breakouts or escapes from our penitentiaries constitute dangerous situations for the community and put our citizens at risk. This is another of the programmatic commitments we have made with the people, directed to fighting and preventing crime more effectively.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF PUERTO RICO:
Section 1.-A new subsection
(v) is hereby added to Section 5 of Act No. 116 of July 22, 1974, as amended, known as the "Organic Act of the Correction Administration," to read as follows: "Section 5.-Functions and powers To achieve these purpose, the Administration shall have the following duties and powers:
(a) ...
(v) To develop, in coordination with the Puerto Public Broadcasting Corporation for Puerto Rico, the Federal Communications Commission in Puerto Rico and the Puerto Rico Police, the implementation of the Citizens Alert Program on the Escape or Breakout of Dangerous Inmates, as well as to promote its adoption among the various cable systems, and the local radio and television stations. To those effects it shall draft regulations to specifically attend to the provisions of this subsection, which shall include, without it being understood as a limitation, the following: (1) Criteria to determine whether in fact an escape or a breakout has occurred; it being understood that the Corrections Administration shall corroborate whether in fact an escape has occurred. (2) That a dangerous inmate is concerned. The Administration shall establish through regulations who is considered to be a dangerous inmate for the purpose of activating the alert. (3) Criteria that would help to describe the fugitive, such as his/her weight, height and age, among other things. (4) To establish that if the aforementioned requirements have been met, it shall proceed to activate the Citizens Alert Program on the Escape or Breakout of Dangerous Inmates.
Section 2.-The Corrections Administration shall notify the communications and broadcasting media of Puerto Rico about the establishment of the Citizens Alert Program on the Escape or Breakout of Dangerous Inmates and shall invite these to participate voluntarily in the same.
Section 3.-As soon as the Corrections Administration remits the information, the communications media and participating entities shall voluntarily agree to transmit to the public the emergency alerts related to the cases of escape or breakout of dangerous prisoners.
After a distinctive sound, the alert should read: "This is an Alert about the Escape of a Dangerous Inmate." Those radio stations that voluntarily wish to do so shall interrupt their programming and the television networks shall broadcast the alert by using a news ticker (crawler) across the screen. Alerts must be broadcast as soon as possible and repeated frequently, following the guidelines of the Emergency Alert System (EAS) and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). They shall be repeated every fifteen (15) minutes for the first 2 hours and every half-hour for the subsequent 3 hours.
Alerts shall include, as may be possible, a description of the dangerous fugitive, his/her identification and any other information the Corrections Administration may deem pertinent and appropriate. Alerts shall also provide the public with specific information as to how the public may contact the authorities to offer information related to the escape or breakout in question.
It shall be the duty of the Corrections Administration to supplement and update the available information for the communications media and the participating entities.
Regardless of whether or not the case has been solved, the alert may conclude at any time as requested by the Corrections Administration.
Section 4.-The Corrections Administration shall issue the standards, rules or regulations that may be necessary for full compliance with this Act. The Corrections Administrator shall designate a coordinator to comply with
the purposes of the Citizens Alert Program on the Escape or Breakout of Dangerous Inmates.
Section 5.-The Corrections Administrator shall appropriate the necessary resources from the operating budget of the Corrections Administration to comply with this Act.
Section 6.-This Act shall take effect March 1, 2007.
CERTIFICATION
I hereby certify to the Secretary of State that the following Act No. 39 (S.B. 1282) of the $5^{ ext {th }}$ Session of the $15^{ ext {th }}$ Legislature of Puerto Rico:
AN ACT to add a new subsection
(v) to Section 5 of Act No. 116 of July 22, 1974, as amended, known as the "Organic Act of the Corrections Administration," in order to include among the duties and powers of the Administration the creation of the Citizens Alert Program on the Escape or Breakout of Dangerous Inmates for the purpose of informing the people through the communications media about the escape or breakout of inmates from prison; and for other purposes, has been translated from Spanish to English and that the English version is correct.
In San Juan, Puerto Rico, today $28^{ ext {th }}$ of September of 2007.
Francisco J. Domenech Director