West Virginia Code Sections Relating to
Pardons, Reprieves, Commutations & Respites

Chapter 5. General Powers and Authority of the Governor
§5-1-16a. Expungement of criminal record upon full and unconditional pardon.

      (a) Any person who has received a full and unconditional pardon from the governor, pursuant to the provisions of section eleven, article VII of the constitution of West Virginia and section sixteen of this article, may petition the circuit court in the county where the conviction was had to have the record of such conviction expunged. The petition shall be served upon the prosecuting attorney of the county where the petition was filed. Any person petitioning the court for an order of expungement shall publish a notice of the time and place that such petition will be made, which notice shall be published as a Class I legal advertisement in compliance with the provisions of article three, chapter fifty-nine of this code, and the publication area for such publication shall be the county where the petition is filed. The circuit court, upon verification of the act of pardon and after a hearing to determine that good cause exists, may enter an order directing that all public record of the petitioner’s conviction be expunged.
      (b) The record expunged pursuant to the provisions of this section may not be considered in an application to any educational institution in this state or an application for any licensure required by any professional organization in this state.
      (c) No person shall be eligible for expungement pursuant to this section until two years after having been pardoned.
      (d) No person shall be eligible for expungement pursuant to this section until twenty years after the discharge of his or her sentence upon the conviction for which he or she was pardoned.
      (e) No person shall be eligible for expungement of a record of conviction of first degree murder, as defined in section one, article two, chapter sixty-one of this code; treason, as defined in section one, article one of said chapter; kidnaping, as defined in section fourteen-a, article two of said chapter; or any felony defined in article eight-b of said chapter.

Chapter 62.  Criminal Procedures
§62-12-13. Powers and duties of board; eligibility for parole;  procedure for granting parole. (Selected subsections relating to pardons, commutations, and reprieves)

      (a) The board of parole, whenever it is of the opinion that the best interests of the state and of the inmate will be served, and subject to the limitations hereinafter provided, shall release any inmate on parole for terms and upon conditions as are provided by this article.
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      (g) The board shall, with the approval of the governor, adopt rules governing the procedure in the granting of parole. No provision of this article and none of the rules adopted hereunder are intended or may be construed to contravene, limit or otherwise interfere with or affect the authority of the governor to grant pardons and reprieves, commute sentences, remit fines or otherwise exercise his or her constitutional powers of executive clemency.
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      (l) The board shall, if so requested by the governor, investigate and consider all applications for pardon, reprieve or commutation and shall make recommendation thereon to the governor.
      (m) Prior to making a recommendation for pardon, reprieve or commutation and prior to releasing any inmate on parole, the board shall notify the sentencing judge and prosecuting attorney at least ten days before the recommendation or parole.

Chapter 28.  State Correctional and Penal Institutions
§28-5-27. Deduction from sentence for good conduct.

      (a) All adult inmates now in the custody of the commissioner of corrections, or hereafter committed to the custody of the commissioner of corrections, except those committed pursuant to article four, chapter twenty-five of this code shall be granted commutation from their sentences for good conduct in accordance with this section.
      (b) Such commutation of sentence, hereinafter called "good time," shall be deducted from the maximum term of indeterminate sentences or from the fixed term of determinate sentences.
      (c) Each inmate committed to the custody of the commissioner of corrections and incarcerated in a penal facility pursuant to such commitment shall be granted one day good time for each day he or she is incarcerated, including any and all days in jail awaiting sentence and which is credited by the sentencing court to his or her sentence pursuant to section twenty-four, article eleven, chapter sixty-one of this code or for any other reason relating to such commitment. No inmate may be granted any good time for time served either on parole or bond or in any other status where by he or she is not physically incarcerated.
      (d) No inmate sentenced to serve a life sentence shall be eligible to earn or receive any good time pursuant to this section.
      (e) An inmate under two or more consecutive sentences shall be allowed good time as if the several sentences, when the maximum terms thereof are added together, were all one sentence.
      (f) The commissioner of corrections shall promulgate separate disciplinary rules for each institution under his control in which adult felons are incarcerated, which rules shall describe acts which inmates are prohibited from committing, procedures for charging individual inmates for violation of such rules and for determining the guilt or innocence of inmates charged with such violations and the sanctions which may be imposed for such violations. A copy of such rules shall be given to each inmate. For each such violations, by an inmate so sanctioned, any part or all of the good time which has been granted to such inmate pursuant to this section may be forfeited and revoked by the warden or superintendent of the institution in which the violation occurred. The warden or superintendent, when appropriate and with approval of the commissioner, may restore any good time so forfeited.
      (g) Each inmate, upon his or her commitment to and being received into the custody of the commissioner of the department of corrections, or upon his return to custody as the result of violation of parole pursuant to section nineteen, article twelve, chapter sixty-two of this code, shall be given a statement setting forth the term or length of his or her sentence or sentences and the time of his minimum discharge computed according to this section.
      (h) Each inmate shall be given a revision of the statement described in subsection (g) if and when any part or all of the good time has been forfeited and revoked or restored pursuant to subsection (f) whereby the time of his or her earliest discharge is changed.
      (i) The commissioner of corrections may, with the approval of the governor, allow extra good time for inmates who perform exceptional work or service.
      (j) In order to ensure equitable good time for all inmates now in the custody of the commissioner of corrections or hereafter committed to the custody of such commissioner, except as to those persons committed pursuant to article four, chapter twenty-five of this code, all good times shall be computed according to this section and all previous computations of good time under prior statutes or regulations are hereby voided. All inmates who have previously forfeited good time are hereby restored to good time computed according to this section and all inmates will receive a new discharge date computed according to this section. All inmates that have been awarded overtime good time or extra good time pursuant to sections twenty-seven-a and twenty-seven-b of this article which are repealed simultaneously with the amendment to this section during the regular session of the Legislature in the year one thousand nine hundred eighty- four, shall receive such good time in addition to the good time computed according to this section.
      (k) There shall be no grants or accumulations of good time or credit to any inmate now or hereafter serving a sentence in the custody of the department of corrections except in the manner provided in this section.