Effective 28 Aug 2009

221.510. Pending outstanding warrants in MULES and NCIC systems, inquiry conducted, when (Jake's Law). — 1. Every chief law enforcement official, sheriff, jailer, administrator of a private jail, department of corrections official and regional jail district official shall conduct an inquiry of pending outstanding warrants for misdemeanors and felonies through the Missouri Uniform Law Enforcement System (MULES) and the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) System on all prisoners about to be released, whether convicted of a crime or being held on suspicion of charges.

2. No prisoner, whether convicted of a crime or being held on suspicion of any charge, shall be released or transferred from a correctional facility or jail to any other facility prior to having a local, state or federal warrant check conducted by a law enforcement official, sheriff, authorized member of a correctional facility or jail, or administrator of a private jail.

3. If any prisoner warrant check indicates outstanding charges or outstanding warrants from another jurisdiction, it shall be the duty of the official conducting the warrant check to inform the agency that issued the warrant that the correctional facility or jail has such prisoner in custody. That prisoner shall not be released except to the custody of the jurisdictional authority that had issued the warrant, unless the warrant has been satisfied or dismissed, or unless the warrant issuing agency has notified the correctional facility or jail holding the prisoner that the agency does not wish the prisoner to be transferred or the warrant to be pursued.

4. If any person has actual knowledge that a violation of this section is occurring or has occurred, such person may report the information to the attorney general of the state of Missouri, who may appoint a sheriff of another county to investigate the report.

5. If a law enforcement official, sheriff, authorized member of the correctional facility or jail, or administrator of a private jail purposely fails to perform a warrant check with the intent to release a prisoner with outstanding warrants and which results in the release of a prisoner with outstanding warrants, that individual shall be guilty of a class A misdemeanor.

6. A law enforcement official, sheriff, authorized member of the correctional facility or jail, or administrator of a private jail shall not be deemed to have purposely failed to perform a warrant check with the intent to release a prisoner in violation of this section, if he or she is unable to complete the warrant check because the MULES or NCIC computer systems were not accessible.

­­--------

(L. 2001 H.B. 144 & 46, A.L. 2009 S.B. 44)