(1) Whenever a person is sentenced to the department of corrections, the department of corrections is authorized to conduct an investigation into the financial circumstances of the defendant, as described in section 16-18.5-104 (3), for purposes of determining the defendant's ability to pay court ordered costs, surcharges, restitution, time payment fees, late fees, and other fines, fees, or surcharges pursuant to section 16-18.5-110.
During any period of time that a defendant is a state inmate, as defined in section 171-102 (8), C.R.S., the executive director of the department of corrections, or his or her designee, may fix the time and manner of payment for court ordered costs, surcharges, restitution, time payment fees, late fees, and any other fines, fees, or surcharges pursuant to section 16-18.5-110 resulting from a criminal case or for child support, and may direct that a portion of the deposits into such inmate's bank account be applied to any outstanding balance existing before, on, or after September 1, 2000. At a minimum, the executive director shall order that twenty percent of all deposits into an inmate's bank account, including deposits for inmate pay shall be deducted and paid toward any outstanding order from a criminal case or for child support. If an inmate owes money on more than one order from a criminal case or for child support, the executive director may equitably apportion payments among the outstanding obligations.
Whenever a defendant is released from a correctional facility, the defendant shall beobligated to make payments for restitution as required by section 17-2-201 (5)(c)(I), C.R.S.
The department of corrections may enter into a memorandum of understanding withthe judicial department or contract with a private collection agency for the collection of court ordered costs, surcharges, restitution, time payment fees, late fees, and any other fines, fees, or surcharges pursuant to section 16-18.5-110 from defendants sentenced to the department of corrections or released on parole.
Source: L. 2000: Entire article added, p. 1039, § 1, effective September 1. L. 2002: (1), (2), and (4) amended, p. 67, § 1, effective March 22; (2) amended, p. 1016, § 20, effective June 1.
Editor's note: Amendments to subsection (2) by Senate Bill 02-159 and Senate Bill 02140 were harmonized.