Alaska Administrative Code
Title 22 - Department of Corrections
Chapter 05 - Adult Facilities
Article 10 - General Provisions
22 AAC 05.660 - Definitions

(1) "administrative segregation" means a form of separation from the general facility population, in accordance with 22 AAC 05.485, if the continued presence of a prisoner in the general population would be a serious threat to life, property, self, staff, other prisoners, or the security or orderly administration of the facility;

(2) "administrative transfer" means the transfer of a prisoner between facilities for any purpose related to an emergency or potentially hazardous situation or to facilitate an administrative action that can be more efficiently accomplished at another facility, such as parole hearing, court action, medical or mental health treatment, military tribunal, family emergency, or population management;

(3) "admission" means the administrative process of accepting a prisoner into an adult correctional facility;

(4) "assistant superintendent" means the deputy chief administrator of an adult correctional facility or any employee of the department designated by the assistant superintendent, superintendent, regional director, deputy commissioner or the commissioner to carry out an official function of the assistant superintendent;

(5) "body cavity search" means the intrusive manual, mechanical, or instrument examination of a person's body appendages and openings by medical personnel;

(6) "central classification" means the staff in the department responsible for system-wide classification and coordination, or any employee of the department designated by the commissioner or deputy commissioner to carry out any official function relating to system-wide classification and coordination;

(7) "classification form" means the form used to provide specific guidelines for the review and assessment of a prisoner's custody levels;

(8) "classification packet" means prisoner case record information forwarded to central classification for effecting a classification action, which contains, if applicable, a final Judgment and Commitment, presentence investigation report, recent psychiatric and psychological report, time accounting records, any security designation or classification form, needs assessment survey form, and related information;

(9) "commissioner" means the commissioner of the Alaska Department of Corrections, or any employee of the department designated by the commissioner to carry out any official function of the commissioner;

(10) "contract facility" means a correctional facility provided to the Department of Corrections by agreement under AS 33.30.031;

(11) "custody level" means one of several categories to which a prisoner is assigned and which describes the prisoner's freedom of movement within an adult correctional facility or the community, and the degree of supervision required;

(12) "department" means the Alaska Department of Corrections;

(13) "deputy commissioner" means the deputy commissioner for operations of the Department of Corrections, or any employee of the department designated by the commissioner or deputy commissioner for operations to carry out an official function of the deputy commissioner;

(14) "designation" means the determination of placement for a prisoner, based upon custody and program requirements;

(15) "exception case" means a prisoner whose offense or subsequent conduct involves: a notorious crime, such as one that has attracted substantial attention in the media, that is particularly violent, or that is a serious sex offense; substantial threats against a person or persons; or an escape risk such as an escape attempt in the last five years or an actual escape in the last 10 years;

(16) "facility" or "correctional facility" means a state prison facility or institution operated and managed by employees of the department designated by the commissioner, for the confinement, care, and discipline of prisoners;

(17) "facility emergency" means a situation in which a prisoner or prisoners, or other circumstances, pose a threat to the security of the facility or any part of the facility and which cannot be managed without extraordinary measures;

(18) "firm release date" means the date on which a prisoner is scheduled to be released, as established by statutory good time calculation, court order, or parole board action;

(19) "frisk search" means a visual and physical pat-down search of a person's clothing and body parts that are visible without the removal of clothing;

(20) "frivolous" means a grievance complaint that addresses information or circumstances that are trivial, lacking in seriousness, irresponsible, self-indulgent, or that have already been addressed;

(21) "mail" means correspondence, printed materials, or packages sent to or from prisoners through the U.S. Postal Service; "mail" does not include material enclosed within mail which did not originate with the sending individual or organization;

(22) "obscene" means (A) words, gestures, language, books, newspapers, periodicals or other written or pictorial materials that the average person, applying contemporary community standards, would find depicts or describes, in a patently offensive way, ultimate sexual acts, masturbation, excretory functions, lewd exhibition of the genitals or sexual sado-masochistic activity; (B) that the work, taken as a whole, appeals to the prurient interest; and (C) that the work, taken as a whole, lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value;

(23) "override" means a classification decision changing security or custody levels to a level different from that which would ordinarily be assigned on the basis of scoring on the classification form, or which has been assigned by a lower level of authority;

(24) "posted" means placed upon a wall or bulletin board, or other form of notice generally available to the prisoner population of a facility such as a prisoner handbook;

(25) "preponderance of the evidence" means the evidence used in a disciplinary proceeding indicating that the prisoner is more likely than not to have committed the acts charged;

(26) "pretrial detainee" means a prisoner held pending adjudication of a criminal charge;

(27) "prisoner" means a person detained or confined for a period of time in a correctional facility, whether by arrest, conviction, order of court, or a person held as a witness, or otherwise "prisoner" includes municipal prisoners held under contract, but excludes juveniles held under the authority of AS 47.10;

(28) "probable cause" means the level of reliability which arises when the facts and circumstances within the officer's knowledge, including the reasonable inferences that may be drawn from the facts and circumstances, and of which the officer has reasonably trustworthy information, are sufficient to warrant a reasonable person to believe that the suspected item, condition, or circumstance exists and justifies action;

(29) repealed 1/13/2012;

(30) "restitution center" means a residential center in the community which provides certain non-violent prisoners the opportunity for rehabilitation through community service and employment while protecting the community through supervision and partial incarceration, and creates a means to provide restitution to victims of crimes, payment of court-ordered fines, dependent support, prisoner cost of care, and other prisoner expenses;

(31) "security" means the interest of the department in preventing assaults, escapes, hazards to health, detriment to reformation or rehabilitation, self-destructive behavior, property damage, and the introduction, transmittal, or possession of contraband;

(32) "special medical needs" means serious and complex medical treatment and care needs of a prisoner that, because of the nature of the medical condition or the extraordinary cost involved in the treatment, cannot be provided in the State of Alaska;

(33) "special mental health needs" means needs of a prisoner who, in the opinion of a physician, psychologist, or psychiatrist, is suffering from a mental illness for which the prisoner cannot secure adequate treatment in prison and who cannot be given adequate mental or psychiatric treatment in a facility owned or operated by the state;

(34) "strip search" means a visual search of a person which requires the complete removal of clothing, and includes a visual body cavity search;

(35) "superintendent" means the chief administrator of an adult correctional facility, or any employee of the department designated by the superintendent, regional director, deputy commissioner, or the commissioner to carry out an official function of the superintendent;

(36) repealed 1/13/2012;

(37) "working day" means a 24-hour period of which no portion includes a Saturday, Sunday, or holiday; in computing a period of time prescribed or allowed by this chapter and pertaining to a "working day," the day of the act, event, or default from which the designated period of time begins to run is not to be included; the last day of the period is to be included, unless it is a Saturday, a Sunday or a legal holiday, in which case the period runs until the end of the next working day; a half-holiday is considered as other working days and not as a holiday;

(38) "director of institutions" or "director" means the director of the division of institutions for the Department of Corrections, or any employee designated by the commissioner, deputy commissioner, or director of institutions to carry out an official function of the director of institutions;

(39) "disciplinary tribunal" means a hearing officer or a disciplinary committee, as applicable, designated under 22 AAC 05.450;

(40) "hearing officer" means a department employee or a person employed by a contractor of the department, designated by the superintendent of a correctional facility to preside and issue decisions in prisoner disciplinary hearings and preside over classification proceedings;

(41) "administrative segregation maximum" means the segregation of a prisoner at the maximum level of supervision available within the facility due to the prisoner being identified as an escape risk or as being the most assaultive, predatory, riotous, or seriously disruptive to the orderly administration of the facility.

(1) weapons, including firearms, explosives, knives, hacksaw blades, tear gas, dangerous chemical agents, or any tool or other object that may be used as a weapon, from which a weapon may be fashioned, or that is intended to be perceived as a weapon;

(2) controlled substances, the possession of which is punishable by either criminal or civil penalties, and any other type of medication;

(3) alcohol, including wine, distilled spirits, home brew, and any other type of alcoholic substance;

(4) cameras, sound or video recorders, or any electronic or mechanical receiving or transmitting equipment;

(5) any article, including keys, tools, electronic or mechanical devices, and identification information, intended to be used as a means of facilitating an escape; and

(6) any other article, including money, toiletries, books, food, mail, and pictures, that is introduced, taken, or conveyed into a facility, or made, obtained, or possessed in a facility in a manner intended to frustrate or evade detection.

(1) "family" means any person or group of persons having the relationship to a prisoner of spouse, father, mother, sister, brother, son, daughter; step-relationship to those relationships; or a person having an immediate-family relationship with the prisoner during formative years;

(2) "furlough" means the authorized absence of a prisoner from a facility for a designated purpose and period of time.