(a) The Director of Corrections may enter into contracts, with the approval of the Director of General Services, with appropriate officials or agencies of the United States for the confinement, care, education, treatment, and employment of those persons convicted of criminal offenses in the courts of this state and committed to state prisons as the director believes can benefit by the confinement, care, education, treatment, and employment.

(b) Any contract entered into pursuant to subdivision (a) shall provide for (1) reimbursement to the United States government for the cost of those services, including any costs incurred by the government in transporting the prisoners, and (2) any other matters as may be necessary and appropriate to fix the obligations, responsibilities and rights of the respective parties to the contract.

(c) No inmate may be transferred from an institution within this state to a federal facility pursuant to a contract entered into pursuant to subdivision (a) unless he or she has executed, in the presence of the warden or other head of the institution in this state in which he or she is confined, a written consent to the transfer. The inmate shall have the right to a private consultation with an attorney of his or her choice, concerning his or her rights and obligations under this section, prior to his or her appearance before the warden or other head of the institution for the purpose of executing the written consent.

(d) Whenever a contract has been made pursuant to this section the director may direct the transfer of an inmate to the facility designated and shall thereafter deliver the inmate to the custody of the appropriate federal officials for transportation to that facility. An inmate so transferred shall at all times be subject to the jurisdiction of this state and may at any time be removed from the facility in which he or she is confined for return to this state, for transfer to another facility in which this state may have a contractual or other right to confine inmates, for release on probation or parole, for discharge, or for any other purpose permitted by the laws of this state; in all other respects, an inmate transferred to a federal facility shall be subject to all provisions of the law or regulations applicable to persons committed for violations of laws of the United States not inconsistent with the sentence imposed on the inmate.

(e) The Board of Prison Terms, and the panels and members thereof, may meet at the federal facility where an inmate is confined pursuant to this section or enter into cooperative arrangements with corresponding federal agencies or officials, as necessary to carry out the term-fixing and parole functions. Nothing in this subdivision shall be deemed to waive an inmate’s right to personally appear before the Board of Prison Terms.

(f) Any inmate confined pursuant to a contract entered into pursuant to this section shall be released within the territory of this state unless the inmate, this state and the federal government shall agree upon release in some other place. This state shall bear the cost of return of the inmate to its territory.

(g) This section shall not apply to an inmate who is transferred by the Department of Corrections to the United States Immigration and Naturalization Service pursuant to Section 5025.

(Amended by Stats. 1994, Ch. 565, Sec. 3. Effective September 16, 1994. Superseded on operative date of amendment by Stats. 1994, Ch. 567.)